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THBLarge Roman Stone Mosaic - Pheasants and Flowers
Lot 96
About Seller
Artemis Gallery
686 S Taylor Ave, Ste 106
Louisville, CO 80027
United States
Selling antiquities, ancient and ethnographic art online since 1993, Artemis Gallery specializes in Classical Antiquities (Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Near Eastern), Asian, Pre-Columbian, African / Tribal / Oceanographic art. Our extensive inventory includes pottery, stone, metal, wood, glass and textil...Read more
Live Auction in Progress ... Currently on Lot Estimate:
$15,000 - $22,000
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| $10,000 | $1,000 |
| $20,000 | $2,500 |
| $50,000 | $5,000 |
| $100,000 | $10,000 |
| $200,000 | $20,000 |
About Auction
Live
By Artemis Gallery
Jun 20, 2019
Set Reminder
2019-06-20 10:00:00
2019-06-20 10:00:00
America/New_York
Bidsquare
Bidsquare : Ancient / Ethnographic From Around the World
https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/artemis-gallery/ancient-ethnographic-from-around-the-world-4217
Around the world & back in time - be amazed at the treasures you will find. Antiquities from Egypt, Greece, Italy and the Near East, Asian, Pre-Columbian, African / Tribal / Oceanic, Native American, Spanish Colonial, Russian Icons, Fine Art, much more! All categories, all price ranges.. all legal Artemis Gallery info@artemisgallery.com
Around the world & back in time - be amazed at the treasures you will find. Antiquities from Egypt, Greece, Italy and the Near East, Asian, Pre-Columbian, African / Tribal / Oceanic, Native American, Spanish Colonial, Russian Icons, Fine Art, much more! All categories, all price ranges.. all legal Artemis Gallery info@artemisgallery.com
View Full Catalog (447)
- Lot Description
Late Roman or Early Byzantine, the Levant, late Imperial Period, ca. 4th to 6th century CE. A well-executed stone mosaic composition featuring two parallel registers, each one depicting a pair of birds - perhaps pheasants, doves, or quail - each pair surrounding a flower (perhaps a poppy) - with a diamond-shaped motif at each end of the register. The birds are delineated in stone tesserae of blue, green, beige, grey, and white hues. The flowers in russet red, beige, blue, and green. The ground is comprised of cream stone tesserae. The attention to detail is impressive, as the mosaicist carefully delineated the avians' eyes, beaks, wings, feathering, and perched feet - as well as the round blossoms and naturalistically rendered leaves and stems. The volumes of the forms are skillfully modeled with color so as to create a somewhat three dimensional effect. Size: 47.25" W x 24.75" H (120 cm x 62.9 cm); 49.25" W x 27.375" H (125.1 cm x 69.5 cm) including matrix
Birds - and indeed, animals of all kinds - were incredibly popular artistic themes in the Roman Empire. Romans delighted in seeing animals, and a major industry during the imperial period was the capture and transport of birds, mammals, and lizards for display and sport in the Roman arena. Ancient Roman mosaic artwork reflects this interest. For example, at Pompeii, there are multiple mosaics depicting well-rendered, lifelike birds engaging in a variety of activities - sitting in trees, warily watching cats, and in the case of one partridge, plucking at a necklace as if to steal it. Based on where mosaics depicting them have been found, birds seem to have been considered tranquil, peaceful subjects for the interiors of homes (not so the case with many other types of animals).
Mosaics (opus tesellatum) are some of our enduring images from the Roman world, appreciated not only for their aesthetic beauty, but also because they reveal what Romans chose to depict and see every day decorating their private and public spaces. In the Roman province of Syria, which encompassed most of the ancient Near East/Levant, mosaics seem to have developed as a common art form relatively late, with most finds coming from the 3rd century CE or later. Syria was one of Rome's wealthiest provinces, but it was also far removed from Rome itself and Roman culture was overlaid on enduring cultural traditions from Hellenistic Greece and the great civilizations that came before it. Antioch-on-the-Orontes (modern day Antakya, Turkey), was the capital of northern Roman Syria, and its excavations in the 1930s revealed more than three hundred mosaic pavements.
Provenance: private East Coast, USA collection; ex-Hirsch auction, Munich, Germany (auction #262, September 22-23, 2009, lot 290); ex-Judy Cowan collection, New York, USA, acquired in the 1970s
All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back.
A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids.
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#146422Normal surface wear with old chips, fissures, and scuffs commensurate with age. Losses to tesserae at peripheries and some interior areas. Stone tesserae are ancient. Set in a modern plaster matrix with metal framing. No suspension holes on verso.Condition
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