Ancient Egyptian Bamboo Painted and Inscribed Handle

Extremely rare Egyptian bamboo tubular handle with superb painting in darker brown of a standing gazelle and three columns of Coptic Greek inscription.
The inscription reads:Dexe eulogia tou agiou Meena
“Receive the benediction of the holy Menas”
Holy Menas, mentioned in the inscription, was a Christian martyr whose dead body was taken to Egypt by two camels and buried on the site of Abu Mena in the western Nile delta near Alexandria. In the following centuries Abu Mena became the most important destination for pilgrimage in Egypt. These handle distaffs prove that his cult was known in the whole country.
Similar items were found by Albert Gayet in 1900-1901 at Antinoopolis. They are now in the Musée de Louvre, Paris, and date to the 6th century AD (Louvre AF9334, AF 9335). These instruments were originally used to yarn wool. Spinning tools were often part of the burial equipment of wealthy women at Antinoopolis.
For the two distaffs in the Louvre, see: Georges Nachtergael: Des quenouilles pour les dames, in: Chronique d’Égypte LXXII (1997), 383–389.




Size: 11.5 cm L - 4 9/16 inches
Material: Cane/Bamboo
Culture: Coptic, c. 4th-5th Century A.D.
Condition: Fragment
Display stand included

Provenance: ex. property Mr. A. Izzel, London, UK, acquired in the 1990s.
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Comes with a Certificate of Authenticity
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