MosaicsRoman3rd century CE

Mosaic with Two Figures Seated on a Couch: Top Panel of Bird and Plant Border (one of four panels from a floor)

3rd century CE

Description

This series of four mosaic fragments depicts a man and woman seated together on a couch with a pink canopy raised above their heads. The woman wears a dark purple himation with a golden border that drapes across her lap, and a dome-shaped golden crown. She raises her right arm above her head and holds a yellow fruit between her fingers. On the right are the man’s lower legs and two feet, crossed at the ankle and resting on a stool. He wears high-laced buskins and a long, pleated garment. Two erotes complete the composition: one stands at the man’s feet peddling goods from his basket and the second floats above the couple on the right, holding one edge of the canopy. The figural scene is framed by a border of guilloche followed by a pattern of heraldic birds that alternate with flowering plants.

Classification

Mosaics

Medium

stone tesserae mosaic

Culture

Roman

Period

Roman Imperial period

Century

3rd century CE

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Department

Department of Ancient and Byzantine Art & Numismatics

Dimensions

H. 53.3 cm h x W. 195.6 cm w x D. 6.4 cm d (21 x 77 in. x 2 1/2)

Provenance

House of the Green Carpet, Antioch, DH 30Q (Turkey, Hatay). Excavated by the Syrian Department of Antiquities (later the Hatay government) and the Committee for the Excavation of Antioch and Its Vicinity (1937), dispersed; to Fogg Museum of Art, 1939.