hellenistic mosaic

Question 1

earliest mosaics technique

Answer 1

chip pavement - earliest in the 4th century BC - plain pavements such as those at Olynthus, alongside pebble mosaic mosaics

early figural and ornamental work done with irregular fragments using the ‘chip technique’ with experimentation in shaping pieces artificially but predominantly using old broken pottery and the likes of- dating evidence not adequate to establish the shaping of pieces artificially as a separate chronological phase or clarify relationsuiop between early pavements and later pebble mosaics

no evidence that the tessellated technique is derived form pebble mosaics - plausible to suggest they come from chip pavements but again, not enough evidence

Question 2

house of dionysus, Pella

Answer 2

last quarter of 4th century BC

griffin mosaic (by the door) - opus tessellatum, protective figure for the boundary into the house

lion hunt and centaur mosaic

several abstracting/geometric designs

Question 3

House of the Rape of Helen, Pella

Answer 3

late 4th century BC

Gnosis’ hunt mosaic - depicts two naked hunters city a stage - signed by the artist ‘gnosis made (it)’, potential that mosaic makers were famous for their work - considered artists in same manner of sculpture

Rape of Helen Mosaic

Question 4

parakeet mosaic at pergamon

Answer 4

altar room at pergamon palace complex

tessellated pictorial mosaic (opus vermiculatum used for parakeet) floor with garlands, a colourful parakeet and tragic masks flanking the altar (could be a dionysus thing)

floor with erotes and grasshoppers as well as the mosaicist’s signature (hephaistion) - mosaic as a legit art form