Unswept Floor Mosaic Pompeii

Discarded fish and fruit.

Unswept floor mosaic pompeii.

A mosaic of the debris of a roman feast. This type of mosaic is known as asarotos oikos asavotos oicos asaroton oecus. Fragment of an asaraton or unswept floor mosaic from aquileia. The unswept floor copy of the mosaic done by sosus the other mosaic for which sosus is and then was very admired was doves drinking from a bowl below.

The date of the mosaic fluctuates between the 3rd century bc and late 4th century very soon after the battles would have taken place. Entire mosaics could also be designed to provide specific trompe l oeil effects the most famous of which is the asarotos oikos unswept room mosaic originally attributed to sosos of pergamon. Unswept floor mosaic pompeii. In the middle of the room is a reference to egypt and the nile with crocodiles birds aquatic plants and figures representing isis and osiris.

Discarded remnants of a meal are realistically depicted on a plain floor of white tesserae thereby playing tricks on the viewer and encouraging him. The alexander mosaic dating from circa 100 bc is a roman floor mosaic originally from the house of the faun in pompeii that is allegedly an imitation of apelles painting. The brighon mosaic with its cherry stems is of course a direct reference to the asaraton or unswept floor motif from roman times. The other three sides of the border are the unswept floor mosaic certainly inspired by the famous work of the mosaic sosos pergamum quoted by pliny the elder.

Photo and mosaic by kind persmission of jim bachor. One can imagine the high degree of workmanship this required to demonstrate in tesserae the metal the feathers and the water in this exquisite mosaic. Detail of a 5th century floor mosaic of a roman triclinium dining room which itself features. The floor containing the panels on view in the exhibition at the metropolitan museum is regarded as the work of a master craftsman who was highly skilled and fully proficient in planning and laying out an intricate mosaic.