Roman, Imperial Period, ca. 1st century CE. Wow! A stunning fragment of a wall fresco with a grey background, a colorful horizontal band, and a bird - probably a pheasant, a bird beloved by the Romans - perched atop the horizontal band. The band has white borders, with a deep, wine red background, white-delineated repeated triangles, and thick pale yellow wavy dashes that look like abstract birds in flight at the center of each triangle. The bird has a pale blue-grey body with wonderful darker grey, creamy white, and red details creating a speckled appearance on the feathers and a lifelike face. Long legs extend down from the back of the bird's body, ending in three long toes that rest against and dangle over the white upper border. Size of fragment: 11" W x 13.25" H (27.9 cm x 33.7 cm); size of frame: 14.2" W x 16" H (36.1 cm x 40.6 cm)
The pheasant was an important bird for the Romans, who probably imported them from Asia to southern Europe via Greece and who then spread them throughout the Roman Empire. Roman officers bred the birds for the table but also admired their beauty. This painting would have graced an interior wall of a Roman building, which we know - mainly from Pompeii and Herculaneum - were sumptuously decorated with colorful artwork, frequently covering not just the walls but also the ceilings! They were made by coating the wall with several layers of mortar, then polishing the surface, and adding bright pigment. Interestingly, it seems that Romans sometimes preferred darker, earthier colors - like the grey background here. The beautiful bird here calls to mind one of the most surviving examples of Roman wall painting: the gardens of Livia's Villa, Rome.
Provenance: private East Coast, USA collection
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#146817
Condition
Restored in two areas - one in upper right (facing) and one on lower left. Repaired from what looks like three pieces. Small areas of overpaint along the restored area of the horizontal band. Light deposits on surface. Set into a modern matrix with a metal frame to protect the back.