Title of Art: (Sarcophagus of Crispina)
Art Form: Sculpture
Subjects: Crispina
Ritual Pose/Object: scroll
Inscription Text: CRISPINA, Chi Ro monogram
Exhibit Institution: Musei Vaticani, Museo Pio Cristiano (Vatican Museums, Pius-Christian Museum)
Exhibit Location: Vatican City
VM Image #: 0053
Photographer: Shala Graham
Date of Photograph: December 29, 2022
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Crispina is remembered for her religious service and is portrayed a holding a scroll which has the monogram of Christ, the Chi-Ro symbol.
The Pio Cristiano Museum within the Vatican Museums houses the oldest collection of early Christian art from the 3rd through 5th centuries. The sarcophagi images are replete with biblical story depictions, inscriptions, and portraits of the deceased. Individual women are portrayed on these sarcophagi, at least three times more than individual men. Sister Christine Schenk, in her book Crispina and Her Sisters, concludes that these women were remembered and honored for their contributions and leadership within their early Christian communities. Their influence is reflected in the funerary images featuring them holding scrolls, making teaching and praying gestures, situated between in-facing apostles, similar to portraits of Christ with apostles on either side. After in-depth analysis of over 2,100 images of sarcophagi, Schenk concludes that these prominent Christian women were viewed as authoritative figures in the early church.
Resource:
Schenk, Christine. Crispina and Her Sisters: Women and Authority in Early Christianity. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2017.
Resource:
Schenk, Christine. Crispina and Her Sisters: Women and Authority in Early Christianity. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2017.