Early Christian Church Floor Mosaic

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Early Christian Church Floor Mosaic

Place of OriginSyria, reportedly from the vicinity of Maarrat al-Nu'man

Date5th century CE

DimensionsH: 141 cm (55 1/2 in.); W: 124.5 cm (49 in.)

MediumMosaic of stone and glass tesserae in a mortar bed.

ClassificationArchitectural Elements

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1969.308

Not on View

Collections

Paintings

Exhibition HistoryThe Dayton Art Institute, The Roman World: Religions and Everyday Life (featuring the Brooklyn Museum exhibition: Tree of Paradise: Jewish Mosaics from the Roman Empire), September 21, 2007 - January 6, 2008 (no catalogue).

Label TextThis mosaic fragment, originally part of a church floor in northern Syria, depicts an antelope, a hare, and a bird in a cage. The mosaic dates to the 5th or perhaps early 6th century CE and reflects early Byzantine artistic traditions while maintaining influences inherited from Roman mosaicists. It belongs to a group of mosaic panels dispersed in the late 1960s: other mosaics from the same area are now in the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Hood Museum at Dartmouth College, Ball State University, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. They have been variously attributed to Syrian churches in Maarrat al-Nu'man or Tell Minis (Tell Mannas) near Idlib, but their direct relationships to one another is still being researched. The dealer, J. J. Klejman, stated the TMA panel came from one of two churches from which three inscribed mosaic panels were known at the time (1969): a church renovated in 415/416 CE under bishop Alexandros, or another constructed in 463 CE under bishop Epiphanius. While these claims should be taken with caution, they offer a rough date for the panel. During this period, the region was part of the Diocese of Apamea, a significant ecclesiastical jurisdiction within the province of Syria Secunda.