Egyptian Antiquities : Works in Focus

The lintel fragment, decorated with a double row of serpents and a winged disc, dates from the Meroitic period (5th–6th centuries AD) and shows the influence of pharaonic Egyptian styles. It was incorporated into the cathedral building at Faras sometime after it was made. The second lintel (from the second half of the 6th century) depicts pharaonic symbols (the lotus flower, the ankh symbol for "life"), and a Christian cross. The cathedral's apse (7th century) was decorated with a frieze of twenty-four birds (doves or eagles?) separated by columns. Each bird is shown before an altar surmounted by a cross, symbolizing the mystery of the eucharist as renewed and celebrated by the cathedral's priests.

The paintings show Byzantine and Coptic influences. A Greek inscription beside the full-length figure identifies him as an archbishop and saint (8th century–early 10th century). Dressed in liturgical robes, he raises one open hand and holds a book in the other. The archangel with unfurled wings (second quarter of the 10th century) is depicted as an imperial figure wearing a gem-studded crown and a cloak with a mesh pattern, held at the shoulder by a metal clip.