Fragment of a Frieze from Bawit with the Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, January 2011

Miracle of Loaves and Fishes

Object Name: Frieze

Date: 6th–7th century

Geography: Egypt, Bawit

Medium: Limestone

Dimensions: Ht. 9 5/8 in. (24.5 cm) W. 4 1/2 in. (11.5 cm) L. 39 3/8 in. (100 cm)

Classification: Sculpture

Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1910

Accession Number: 10.176.21

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/1400...

On this heavily damaged stone, Christ sits enthroned under an arch, extending his right hand toward twelve baskets. Saint Mark the Evangelist (6:33-44) wrote that from a meager five loaves and two fish, Christ was able to feed a crowd of five thousand people- with twelve baskets of food left over, as here. In this depiction, angels stand to Christ's left and right; beyond them, apostles or saints carry books in their left hand and gesture with their right as if they were speaking or preaching.

Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.