Close up of mosaic tesserae depicting queen Berenike's headdress, the prow of a ship, after conservation 02
- Description:
- Close up of mosaic tesserae depicting queen Berenike's headdress, the prow of a ship, after conservation 02
- Photographer:
- Image captured by Project Staff
- Date Created:
- July 15, 2003
- Collection:
- Greco-Roman Museum Mosaic Conservation
- Series:
- Post-conservation
- Subseries:
- Berenike Mosaic
- Location:
- Alexandria, Egypt, Al Iskandarīyah, Tell Timai, Thmuis, and Al Mansurah
- Time Period:
- Hellenistic Period and Ptolemaic Period
- Topic:
- Art, Greco-Roman, Queens, Royalty, Maritime, Mosaics, Tesserae, Stonework, Portraits, and Ptolemy III Euergetes I Berenice, Queen, consort of Ptolemy III, King of Egypt
- Genre:
- color photographs
- Conservation Note:
- This circular mosaic panel, 146 cm in diameter, most probably depicts Queen Berenike II, wife of Ptolemy III, wearing military attire with marine motifs. Her ship headdress flanked by dolphins, the anchor-shaped fibula on her shoulder, and her regal bearing have suggested that she is portrayed as the protector and personification of Alexandria (another suggested interpretation is that her headdress commemorates one of her husband's naval victories.) This type of portrait mosaic is known as an emblema, which would have been set into a field or border of Liles on the floor that created a large frame around the image. Emblernala of significant personages were produced by artists; perhaps even royal, workshops in Alexandria for export, since they were of a portable size, and some were apparently created by artists of some reputation- another Berenike portrait also found at Thmuis and now in the Greco-Roman Museum was made and signed by its creator Sophilos (Final Presentation Report). For more details on the Mosaic’s descriptive record, see Final Remarks Report.
- Copyright Status:
- copyrighted
- Creative Commons License:
- https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
- Local ID:
- arce_ca_mmc_images_0344.tif
- Project History:
- Within the walls of the Greco-Roman Museum, Alexandria, Egypt are three intricate mosaics of very fine quality between the second and third century, BCE. Under the auspices of the American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE), Father Michele Piccirillo of the Studium Biblicum Franciscum directed the conservation of the mosaics. Notably, it resulted in the public viewing of the stag hunt mosaic for the first time since its discovery. Conservation work was made possible with the support of the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities (formerly the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities).
- Funding Agency:
- Greco-Roman Museum Mosaic Conservation project was made possible with funding by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Grant No. 263-G-00-93-00089-00 and administered by the Egyptian Antiquities Project (EAP) of the American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE).