CIRCA 2ND-4TH CENTURY A.D.

In antiquity, porphyry was highly regarded for its colour, since purple was symbolic of high rank and authority. The stone was quarried at only one location in Egypt's eastern desert near Mons Porphyrites, known today as Gebel Kokham, beginning in the early 1st century A.D. It was transported overland to Kainopolis on the Nile, modern Qena, and then by boat north to Alexandria and from there on to Rome and elsewhere in the Empire. During the Roman Period, the quarries were under the direct control of the Emperor. An insatiable taste for luxurious coloured stones began during the Republic when Rome conquered the Hellenistic kingdoms in the East. Porphyry was only sporadically used during the 1st century A.D., reaching its first peak of use during the reigns of the Emperors Trajan (98-117 A.D.) and Hadrian (117-138 A.D.), and again in the late 3rd and 4th centuries during the Tetrarchy and following. It was used for architectural elements including columns and floor paving, for decorative urns and basins, and for Imperial sarcophagi and statuary.
See R. Delbrueck, Antike Porphyrwerke, Berlin and Leipzig, 1932; and M. L. Anderson and L. Nista (eds), Radiance in Stone: Sculptures in Colored Marble from the Museo Nazionale Romano, University of Pennsylvania, 1989, for porphyry and its use in antiquity. For a fragmentary amphora in the Louvre see inv. no. E 23437 and for a vase with similar detailing to the underside of the foot see inv. no. N 1215.