No 7

Location: Below the frame of the first window, from right to left, in the southeastern part of the central section of the southern gallery.

Material: Marble surface, 6th century.

Dimensions: Height 8 cm, length 9 cm, at 150 cm from the floor level.

Condition: Deep carving, partially erased, not intersected by others.

Technique: Incised.

Description: A medieval sailing vessel on a starboard tack, viewed from starboard. It has a short and relatively high hull with a fairly straight, massive keel. The diagonal lines along the hull represent its clinker-built planking.
The stem rises sharply and is fitted with a second, outer prow (or cutwater). The nearly vertical sternpost allows for the mounting of a rudder with more than two pairs of pintles and gudgeons. The massive, straight rudder is equipped with a tiller, indicated by a short vertical line projecting slightly aft from its top. A disproportionately large stern quarter occupies about one-half of the vessel's length. At its forward end, it slopes downward, creating a low section between it and the bow, forming a waist in the hull. At its aft end, a triangular quarterdeck is raised, while the afterdeck begins unusually—not immediately aft of the mainmast, but slightly forward of it. The forecastle is triangular, with a bowsprit indicated as a short, steeply rising, slanted line. The ship's superstructures are integrated into the hull's construction. The vessel's profile is completed by two masts, stayed by shrouds and forestays/backstays, represented by descending diagonal lines from each masthead to the deck. The trunk of the mainmast, located amidships, is a solid vertical line without a yard or sail. The mizzenmast is shorter and is located in the aft section, just forward of the quarterdeck. Aft of the rudder and at its lower end, a large, auxiliary steering oar with a triangular blade is drawn.

Type: C/IIb.

Attribution: Two-masted round ship (cocha).

Announced: E. M. Αντωνιάδου, Έκφρασις της Αγίας Σοφίας :ήτοι μελέτη συνθετική και αναλυτική υπό έποψιν αρχιτεκτονικήν, αρχαιολογικήν και ιστορικήν του πολυθρυλήτου τεμένους Κωνσταντινουπόλεως. T. 2. [Αθήναι]: Τύποις Π. Δ. Σακελλαρίου, 1908, 322, Fig. 441.

Publications: Tomov, Potajnostite na "Sv. Sofia", 83-86.

Commentary: Tomov, Potajnostite na "Sv. Sofia", 84-86.

Date: Second half of the 14th – mid-15th century AD.