| Collection: | Corinth | |
| Type: | Object | |
| Name: | MOS 1925 1 | |
| Title: | TESSELATED FLOOR: GOAT | |
| Category: | Architecture | |
| Category Code: | MOS | |
| Year: | 1925 | |
| Object Number: | 1 | |
| Old Number: | A-608 (lapsed) | |
| Description: | Figural panel from tesselated floor: mosaic with border on three sides. Tesserae of cubes range from H. 0.015 and W. 0.013 to H. 0.002 and W. 0.002; larger, more square for geometric designs and smaller, irregular, for figures. Most distinguishing feature is great range of colors giving vivacity to figure, objects, and background. Subtlety in handling of light and shadows, pulling picture into one unit; bag and pail make picture realistic. Important use of black line of mosaics all around figure of goat to make it stand out more clearly. When first found, Shear dated as Hellenistic; now considered Roman | |
| Decoration: | Center: Large tree with gnarled trunk. Fat bag hands from branches of tree, underneath which a reclining goat, in profile, facing left. Goat head held high with mouth slightly open; rounded body and left front hoof and leg bent up and under goat. Eye very elongated and exaggerated. Small black tail droops down. Foreground: pail with liquid inside, other indistinguishable objects lie near pail. In front of pail, same-colored brown stones almost like cross section of earth. Guilloche pattern around sides. Incomplete as composition; at far left some other object or goat. Movement of piece remaining from left top to right bottom and around again in direction that goat faces. Tension in lifted leg of goat contrasts with relaxed rest of body, which is also quite fat. Colors of composition blend softly together while great variety of colors gives it brightness. Picture contained within border of two rows of black stones, two rows of white stones, and black filling around guilloche. Guilloche color sequence of brown, gray, and yellow. All background, outside ground itself, done in white. Tree has blue, green, and gray leaves of different shades to show depth and shadow. Depth also portrayed in trunk and branches by deeper shades of brown and black which gives bulk and shape. Goat done in varying shades of brown in order to show movement of line and curvature of body; gray patch shows shininess of coat. Line after line of black mosaic on back of goat gives weight and depth. Ground under goat combination of yellow and white for sunlit, light gray for shade thrown by tree. Foreground with pail done in yellow with gray color in mouth of bucket representing milk? | |
| Material: | Limestone, terracotta, and glass; over 24 colors total. Brown cement. | |
| Condition: | Fragment. Left side broken off; 3 large areas where missing tiles at break, few missing along tree and border holes filled with cement. Area with goat lifted October 1951. | |
| Period: | Roman | |
| Chronology: | Late Antonine or 2nd c., based on publications | |
| Area: | Roman Villa, Shear's | |
| Context: | Roman Villa, Shear's | |
| Findspot Description: | Grid: E-15/16. Mosaic corner seen by George Kachros; Roman Villa excavated by Shear at Kokkinovrysi starting 1925/04/13. Found in Room A (first toom on east, atrium). | |
| Bibliography: | AJA 1925, Vol. 29, p. 381-396; AIA Report 1924-25, p. 33-37; AJA 1927, Vol. 31, p. 329-337; Shear 1930, Corinth 5; Gnomon VIII 1932, p. 169-170; Parlasca 1959, Die Rom. Mosaiken im Deutschland, p. 114 (Late Antonine); A. Balil 1976, "Estudios sobre mosaicos romanes. 4. Emblemata," Studia Archaeologica 39, p. 11, (2nd c.); Salies 1987, Bon Jahib, p. 265 (Antonine) | |
| Site: | Kokkinovrysi | |
| City: | Ancient Corinth | |
| Country: | Greece | |
| References: | Monument: Roman Villa, Shear's Images (12) |
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