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Nigel Moore @tessellae.bsky.social · 4d

I suppose that bulge under his left elbow is a cushion and not some part of his anatomy. Or any other interpretations.?
Otherwise “recline, dine and wine” is underused as an advert jingle….

Nigel Moore @tessellae.bsky.social · 7d

Nigel Moore @tessellae.bsky.social · 8d

The word Ethiopian has been used in history for different black people so even with Herodotus it’s difficult to know who the people were he referred to. Reminds me of the famous black *Oyster King” of New York Thomas Downing in the early 19th century who was called the “venerable Ethiop”

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Nigel Moore @tessellae.bsky.social · 10d

It’s a shame it is called a Roman mosaic when it is Hellenistic by style, composition and probable dating. Just because it was taken to Pompeii, as war booty or just plundered doesn’t make it Roman (dislike of polychromy was quite common in Roman times as well)

Nigel Moore @tessellae.bsky.social · 10d

But like one of my old oriental rugs at home! Supposed to be melon forms , all in natural wool colours

Oriental rugs do have certain similarities to mosaics sometimes

Nigel Moore @tessellae.bsky.social · 11d

Perhaps it’s due to the grouting which is so prominent

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Nigel Moore @tessellae.bsky.social · 17d

Antoine-Chrysostome Quatremère de Quincy (1755-1849) - what a name too ! - was the first in 1806 to write about #polychromy in ancient Greek art m. And what a colourful life he led!
#ancientbluesky

Nigel Moore @tessellae.bsky.social · 17d

A cute emblema! Again this meme started by Sosos, mentioned by Pliny of a mosaic with doves! Continued even into paleo-Christian mosaic art!

Nigel Moore @tessellae.bsky.social · 17d

Birds of a feather!
From the Louvre (I’m assuming it’s still there😃)
Provenance Daphne near Antakya beginning of 3rd cent AD
#MosaicMonday

Yet another variation of the dove mosaic started by Sosos in Pergamon almost 400 years earlier. Lovely border of cubes in perspective

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Nigel Moore @tessellae.bsky.social · 17d

I’m sorry but this can’t either be BC as tessellated mosaics were not generally made until the beginning of the 2nd centBC. Its style and composition is much later

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Nigel Moore @tessellae.bsky.social · Oct 8

Saw the whole book is free to download on Internet Archive which is quite amazing! One very grateful reader here at least!

Nigel Moore @tessellae.bsky.social · Oct 8

Thanks for the link and suggestion! I’ll be very curious to read it, though I hope it’s not too focused on cognitive aspects as we need to try and get at feelings, imagination and fantasies as well that these extraordinary sculptures represent and evoke

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Nigel Moore @tessellae.bsky.social · Oct 7

…..no doubt shared but they need to be put into some psychological context too. There’s a lot of interesting work done by anthropologists with psychoanalytic training that could be consulted on these extremely interesting issues of interpretation

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Nigel Moore @tessellae.bsky.social · Oct 7

I think Neolithic archaeologists are sometimes too obsessed with its social aspects whilst more psychological constructs, like aggression, fear and sexual drives are often avoided. Cauvin and Hodder are 2 notable exceptions as these carved figures are products of fantasies…..1/2

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Nigel Moore @tessellae.bsky.social · Oct 7

Forgot to add the rep photos

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Nigel Moore @tessellae.bsky.social · Oct 7

This statue also from Karahantepe plus the perhaps even older “Urfa Man” suggest human figures had their place in Neolithic iconography, though we can’t ignore the fact that two are men holding their genitalia which as Hodder esp stresses underlies the strong phallic elements in such projections

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Nigel Moore @tessellae.bsky.social · Oct 6

This statue also from Karahantepe plus the perhaps even older “Urfa Man” suggest human figures had their place in Neolithic iconography

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Nigel Moore @tessellae.bsky.social · Oct 6

Thanks! Makes sense m!

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Nigel Moore @tessellae.bsky.social · Oct 6

Perhaps a theatre mask? Provenance and date??

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Reposted by Nigel Moore

Archaeologs @archaeologs.com · Oct 6

First Human-Faced Pillar Discovered at Karahantepe

#archaeology #karahantepe #tastepeler #gobeklitepe #news #neolithic #turkiye

www.archaeologs.com/n/first-huma...

First Human-Faced Pillar Discovered at Karahantepe - Archaeologs

Recent archaeological excavations at Karahantepe have brought to light a remarkable find from the depths of prehistory: a T-shaped pillar bearing the depiction of a human face. This discovery reshapes...

www.archaeologs.com

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Nigel Moore @tessellae.bsky.social · Oct 6

Hardly BC!!! 3/4th cent AD!!

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Nigel Moore @tessellae.bsky.social · Oct 6

The earliest tessellated mosaics from Pergamon and Alexandria used glass in mosaics on palace floors, and amazingly composed in the opus vermiculatum technique, see Guimier-Sorbets and Dunbabin

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Nigel Moore @tessellae.bsky.social · Oct 3

Reminds me of the great marine biologist and legendary environmentalist Rachel Carson who in her famous book Edge of the Sea talks of the foreshore as the ancient world and of Tagore’s phrase “On the seashore of endless worlds children play” used by Donald Winnicott as a motto for his work with kids

Nigel Moore @tessellae.bsky.social · Sep 29

One the earliest tessellated mosaics made in the exquisite opus vermiculatum technique. Where did such amazing skills come from?

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Nigel Moore @tessellae.bsky.social · Sep 22

When a goose goes a-goosing

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