Late Roman / Byzantine Stone Mosaic Panel - Birds

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Spring Art Auction | Fine, Folk, Fun

By Artemis Gallery

May 13, 2021

Set Reminder 2021-05-13 12:00:00 2021-05-13 12:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : Spring Art Auction | Fine, Folk, Fun https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/artemis-gallery/spring-art-auction-fine-folk-fun-6949
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• Lot Description
  Ancient Near East, the Levant, late Roman Imperial Period to early Byzantine, ca. 5th to 6th century CE. A skillfully executed stone mosaic composition featuring one full bird and the upper half of another bird - perhaps depicting pheasants, quails, or doves - within a planar lower border and a diagonal upper border. The stylized avian creatures are delineated in stone tesserae in blue, beige, grey, russet, and tan hues, while the open ground is composed of white tesserae, and the borders with red, blue, and orange tesserae. The impressive detailing to the full bird brings out the plumpness of the body atop its thin legs, and the top half of the second bird shows an extended neck and a mesmerizing eye in front of a short beak. Birds were a popular zoomorphic motif to illustrate on mosaic compositions, and this example was perhaps from the villa of a wealthy Roman estate. Size: 23.25" W x 17" H (59.1 cm x 43.2 cm); 23.8" W x 18.75" H (60.5 cm x 47.6 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 New York City, New York, USA collection; ex-private prominent D.K. collection, New York, USA; ex-private T.A. collection, acquired in September 1978 from Mathias Komor
  
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  #153126

  Condition

  All stone tesserae are ancient. Set in a modern matrix and steel frame. Minor nicks and abrasions to some tesserae, with light encrustations, and minor fading to original coloration. Great earthen deposits throughout. Avian iconography still visible. Abrasions and nicks to matrix.
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