Coptic & Byzantine water nymphs & Venus
This post is for anyone wondering: hey, are there Coptic and Byzantine depictions of mermaids, naiads, nereids? I mean, there’s lots of fish-tailed beings in ancient art, Triton was hella popular, and there’s lots of medieval mermaids… but what about all those centuries in between? What happened there, were people making art? The answer is yes. Let's take a look:
Birth of Venus, with nereids in attendance. Herakleopolis Magna, Egypt. Limestone relief. 395 - 641 CE. Byzantine. Louvre.
From Farag 1976.
Limestone segment of an arch; foliate decoration on the underside. The face depicts a nereid on the back of a dolphin with her scarf billowing above her head. Coptic. Production date 4th — 5th centuries CE. British Museum.
Nereid riding a dolphin or sea monster. 6th 7th century CE. Saqqara, Memphis, Egypt. British Museum.
Coptic. Top of an Arch with a Nymph Riding a Sea Monster, 5th–6th century C.E.. Limestone, pigment, 18 1/8 x 31 1/8 x 14 3/8 in. (46 x 79 x 36.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 41.1226. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
Mermaids or sirens, limestone relief, Recklinghausen. Note the crosses around their necks. Info from Farag 1976.
Monneret de Villard 1923.
Nereid riding a water monster. Monneret de Villard 1923.
Aphrodite Anadyomene, tapestry. 395 - 641 CE, Byzantine period. Findspot: Antinoé (?) Louvre.
Fabric with the image of a nereid riding a sea monster, Coptic fabric, VIII-IX centuries. Egypt. Material: wool, flax. State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg.
Tapestry fragment with Nereids riding sea monsters. 5th-6th century CE, Egypt. Note the Nereid on the right is looking at her reflection in a mirror. This gesture was done by Aphrodite and Venus in antiquity, and later by mermaids in medieval art. Dumbarton Oaks.
Fresco unearthed at Bawit. The winged half-serpent is "daughter of Alabasandria". Coptic. Image via Wikipedia.
Pair of Kolti with Sirens, Byzantine Period, ca 843-1204 CE. Found in Kyiv. Dumbarton Oaks collection. These sirens have the traditional bird bodies from antiquity.
I normally do more research & analysis, but I didn't this time.
Sources
Farag, F. Rofail. “Is There Any Justification for the Existence of Coptic Art? Two Recent Critical Opinions.” Kunst Des Orients, vol. 11, no. 1-2, 1976, pp. 22–42.
Monneret de Villard, Ugo. La Scultura Ad Ahnâs : Note Sull’origine Dell’arte Copta. Tipografia della Reale accad. nazionale dei Lincei in Roma, 1923.
