Unswept Floor Mosaic Pompeii

The original is a simple but brilliant idea.

Unswept floor mosaic pompeii.

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. Unswept and unwelcome trompe l oeil debris was a popular roman and hellenistic mosaic theme for dining rooms floors. A mosaic of the debris of a roman feast. 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.

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. 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. Detail of a 5th century floor mosaic of a roman triclinium dining room which itself features. Photo and mosaic by kind persmission of jim bachor.

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. 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. This type of mosaic is known as asarotos oikos asavotos oicos asaroton oecus. Fragment of an asaraton or unswept floor mosaic from aquileia.

Mosaic of an unswept floor from pompeii we are searching for a floor mosaic from pompeii showing the floor of a room badly cleaned after a meal with the debris of the food left on the floor. Discarded remnants of a meal are realistically depicted on a plain floor of white tesserae thereby playing tricks on the viewer and encouraging him. Discarded fish and fruit. The date of the mosaic fluctuates between the 3rd century bc and late 4th century very soon after the battles would have taken place.