Carved of a fragment of a bone a nude male is depicted with only a cloak draped around his shoulders, boots on the feet and a staff in the right hand. He is standing frontally in a slightly contraposto pose as he leans on the staff.
Similar carvings, many of which follow the more or less convex curve of the bone, have been found in great quantities in the late Roman urban area of Alexandria/ Egypt. The figure subjects are usually taken from mythology and are similar to those on textiles found in tombs and burial sites on Byzantine Egypt. The carvings were probably used in the decoration of wooden caskets or other furniture.

Anonymous gift, 2013.

Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Byzantine Collection, Washington, DC.