On view
European Art
Ampulla with figures in a boat,
6th century CE
Byzantine
Early Byzantine, ca. 330–842
y118
Pilgrimage and Portable Objects
These small, portable objects speak to the movement of people across expansive geographies over many centuries. Reliquaries and ampullae, or small flasks, contained physical reminders of pilgrimages to holy sites. Medallions, tokens, and amulets warded off perils on these arduous journeys and served as mementos of them.
Objects of personal adornment traveled with their wearers, but their materials also could connote distant places. Garnet, for example, came to Europe primarily via long-distance trade routes with South Asia, and glass imitating garnet was often made in Egypt and imported to Europe.
Information
Title
Ampulla with figures in a boat
Dates
6th century CE
Medium
Ceramic
Dimensions
6.7 cm x 5.0 cm x 1.6 cm (2 5/8 x 1 15/16 x 5/8 in.)
Credit Line
Princeton University Art Museum
Object Number
y118
Place Made
Asia
Period
Type
Materials
Subject
Possibly excavated at Smyrna; entered the collection of the Princeton University Art Museum by 1924.
- Dorothy Eugenia Miner, Early Christian and Byzantine art: an exhibition held at The Baltimore Museum of Art, (Baltimore, MD: Baltimore Museum of Art, 1947)., p. 139, no. 709; pl. 51
- Slobodan Curcic and Archer St. Clair, Byzantium at Princeton: Byzantine art and archaeology at Princeton University: catalogue of an exhibition at Firestone Library, Princeton University, August 1 through October 26, 1986, (Princeton, NJ: Dept. of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University, The Art Museum, Princeton University, Princeton University Library, Dept. of Rare Books and Special Collections, 1986)., no. 171; p. 145
