Close up of mosaic tesserae depicting border with wild boar and griffin partially visible, after conservation
- Description:
- Close up of mosaic tesserae depicting border with wild boar and griffin partially visible, after conservation
- Photographer:
- Image captured by Project Staff
- Date Created:
- July 16, 2003
- Collection:
- Greco-Roman Museum Mosaic Conservation
- Series:
- Post-conservation
- Subseries:
- Stag Hunt Mosaic
- Location:
- Alexandria, Egypt and Al Iskandarīyah
- Time Period:
- Hellenistic Period and Ptolemaic Period
- Topic:
- Art, Greco-Roman, Borders, Ornamental (Decorative arts), Animals in art, and Greek mythology
- Genre:
- color photographs and documentary photography
- Conservation Note:
- A wild boar runs to the right. Its body is of creamy white tesserae, the bristles on its back of varied creamy-yellow and brown pebbles set off with wide lead strips. The inside of its open snout is indicated with red tesserae, while the fangs were made of specially cut pieces of white stone. Shading is indicated with pink tesserae. Hooves are of yellow tesserae. Lead strips are used to indicate contours and muscles and other details such as eyes, hair etc. Next to it, is a griffin with an eagle's head and spread wings. Its body is made of creamy-white tesserae with pink stones used for the shading and the beard. The crest and the tongue were marked with red terracotta cubes, the lower lip of yellowish stones. A black pebble for the eye has a red stone as highlight. Lead strips were used for the contours and details of feathers, beak and muscles. The claws were of white specially-cut pieces, in similarity to the other animal representations (Final Remarks Report).
- Copyright Status:
- copyrighted
- Creative Commons License:
- https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
- Local ID:
- arce_ca_mmc_images_0042.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).