Skip to main content

Copper alloy cruciform sceptre: E.42.1939

An image of Staff
View image details

Terms of use

The low-resolution images published on this Website are made available under a Creative Commons Attribution licence (CC BY-NC-ND). For more details: Fitzwilliam Terms of Use

This licence does not include any images of works that are still in copyright. Artistic copyright extends from the life of the artist to 70 years from the end of the calendar year in which the artist died.

Download this image

For further information on use of images or to license a high resolution version, please contact our image library who can discuss terms and fees.

Current Location: Gallery 19

Titles

Copper alloy cruciform sceptre

Entities

Categories

Description

Staff, ceremonial, surmounted by a cross. In Egypt, crosses and the traditional ankh signs were used on Coptic objects such as lamps. As Christianity grew in popularity the more traditional symbols were replaced by those still used today.

Measurements and weight

Height: 29.2 cm

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Given (1939) by Hornblower, G. D., OBE

Dating

1st Millennium, Mid
400 - 600

Materials used in production

bronze Copper alloy

Techniques used in production

Cast (process)

Identification numbers

Accession number: E.42.1939
Primary reference Number: 53722
Oldadmincategory: MW

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Wednesday 15 October 2025

Associated departments & institutions

Owner or interested party: The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department: Antiquities

Citation for print

This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:

The Fitzwilliam Museum (2025) "Copper alloy cruciform sceptre" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/53722 Accessed: 2025-12-05 07:20:39

Citation for Wikipedia

To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:

{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/53722 |title=Copper alloy cruciform sceptre |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2025-12-05 07:20:39|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

API call for this record

To call these data via our API (remember this needs to be authenticated) you can use this code snippet:

https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/api/v1/objects/object-53722

Bootstrap HTML code for reuse

To use this as a simple code embed, copy this string:

<div class="text-center">
    <figure class="figure">
        <img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/ant/ant16/E_42_1939.jpg"
        alt="Copper alloy cruciform sceptre"
        class="img-fluid" />
        <figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Copper alloy cruciform sceptre</figcaption>
    </figure>
</div>

Sign up for updates

Updates about future exhibitions and displays, family activities, virtual events & news. You'll be the first to know...

University of Cambridge Museums logo
Cambridge City Council logo
Arts Council England Logo
Research England logo