SUBJECT

SUBJECT

Identification

Roman villa of Simonov zaliv / San Simone, Izola / Isola (Slovenia), geometric black and white floor mosaic decoration

Iconographic description

The mosaic shows white-roza-gray obliquely set tesserae with a simple framing band of black and white tesserae set in straight rows (three courses of black bordered by two rows of white tesserae). The black and white mosaic floor is decorated with diamond pattern surrounded by white and black stripes of tesserae set in straight rows (two courses of each color); the border area of the mosaic consists of white obliquely set tesserae. Decorative patterns of lozenges in drafting and iterative covering are already attested in the fourth and third centuries BC in pebble mosaic technique; between the second and the first centuries BC the pattern appears to be transferred to the opus sectile technique, while in the context of tessellated mosaics the pattern is diffused especially in the time between the Augustan Age and the early decades of the first century AD (MEDER J. 2003, Podni mozaici u Hrvatskoj od 1. do 6. stoljeća. Zagreb, p. 76; RINALDI F. 2007, Mosaici e pavimenti del Veneto. Province di Padova, Rovigo, Verona e Vicenza (I sec.a.C. – VI sec. d.C.). Antenor Quaderni 7. Roma, p. 96).