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Fragment Of A Floor Mosaic Essay

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The art piece is “Fragment of a Floor Mosaic with a Personification of Ktisis. The Metropolitan Museum of Art holds this marble and glass mosaic in gallery number 301. The fragment of a floor mosaic comes from around 500-550 CE and has been restored by modern techniques and copied from a picture (“Fragment of a Floor Mosaic with a Personification of Ktisis”). The artist is unknown and originates from the Byzantine Empire. The method is from the classical tradition of personifying abstract ideals and went on throughout the Christian era in a multitude of places around the basin of the Mediterranean (“Fragment of a Floor Mosaic with a Personification of Ktisis). A Greek inscription by her head establishes her as Ktisis and the personification of being a generous donor. Her role is indicated by her holding the rod, a measuring tool for the Roman foot (“Fragment of a …show more content…

The women are adorned with jewels; which shows a higher status in life. The fragments used are geometrical in shape and give the appearance of being shiny. In this mosaic, the forms are distinct and formed on a flat plane. This appears to be multicolored especially in the boarding of the neckline of her dress that is created by the black and white tesserae that appears to resemble pearls (“Fragment of a Floor Mosaic with a Personification of Ktisis”). The face of the women seems to have an olive complexion with shades of pink arranged asymmetrical with her large staring eyes that is typical of Byzantine art in this time (“Fragment of a Floor Mosaic with a Personification of Ktisis”). The text from the online collection states that blue glass added to the mosaic represented sapphires and the red and green glass is a sixth –century Byzantine style. The hair style and eyes that are seen in this mosaic was seen in a bust of the “Lady or Rank,” from mid- sixth century Constantinople (“Fragment of a Floor Mosaic with a Personification of

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