Kamechlié censer - Lot 136

Kamechlié censer Bowl-shaped incense burner with an accentuated bulge on the body, mounted on a truncated cone-shaped base. Two three-lobed suspension lugs adorn the lip. The neck is formed by two bands separated by a fillet, decorated with a frieze of foliage. At the base of the lugs, busts of angels are shown in relief. The body is adorned, in a wide band, with relief decoration depicting the following Gospel cycle (nine scenes from left to right): Annunciation, Visitation, Nativity, Announcement to the shepherds, Adoration of the Magi, Baptism, Entry into Jerusalem, Crucifixion, Myrophores at the sepulchre. The main entablature features eighteen busts (twelve apostles, Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary, flanked by two angels). Finally, the base is decorated with a frieze of foliage and a nine-petal rosette. Bronze finish. Missing a three-lobed auricle, a hole on the rim (traces of old restorations), a few fels, a hole on the body. Byzantine Empire, Syria, 7th - 8th century. Height: 12.8 cm Provenance: - From a copy of the collectors' notes, acquired from Koutoulakis in Paris in January 1955. - Beirut before 1939 (Dikran Sarafian ?). Publication: JERPHANION, Guillaume de, "Un nouvel encensoir syrien et la série des objets similaires", Mélanges syriens offerts à Monsieur René Dussaud, secrétaire perpétuel de l'Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres par ses amis et ses élèves, Paris, 1939, t. 1, pp. 297-312. Guillaume de Jerphanion described our censer in 1939 in the article "Un nouvel encensoir syrien et la série des objets similaires". He learned of its existence from Beirut-based René Mouterde (who himself had learned of its presence from antiquarian Dikran Sarafian), who provided him with photographs and information about its provenance. The object is said to have been found in Kamechlié, Syria, but we learn that after passing through Mr. Mouterde's hands, it "left for an unknown destination". Several models corresponding to this typology can be found in various museums and private collections, including a very similar one in the Musée d'art et d'histoire de Genève (AD 2400), dated to the 7th century, Byzantine Empire and located in Syria or Palestine; another in the Musée du Louvre, Paris (E11709). Collection Nicole et Jean-Michel Thierry - lots 1 to 141.