Tunisian Mosaics

Tunisian Mosaics

Author: Aïcha Ben Abed Ben Khader

Publisher: Getty Publications

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 148

ISBN-13: 9780892368570

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As the Roman Empire expanded its African settlements in the early centuries of the common era, thousands of mosaic floor pavements were fashioned to adorn the townhouses and rural estates of the African upper classes. Between the second and sixth centuries, mosaic art blossomed, particularly in Africa Proconsularis, the region comprising modern Tunisia. In contrast to the official art of imperial Rome, mosaics generally expressed the worldviews of private citizens. These artworks are remarkable for the intricate beauty of their polychromatic geometric and floral designs, as well as for figural scenes depicting the interests and activities of the patrons who commissioned them--scenes of daily life, athletic contests, gladiator spectacles, and classical literature and mythology. Abundantly illustrated throughout, Tunisian Mosaics: Treasures from Roman Africa offers the general reader a lively introduction to this extraordinary ancient art. Initial chapters survey the historical background of Roman Africa and discuss the development of mosaic art in the Mediterranean. Subsequent chapters profile Tunisia's major mosaic sites and tour the collections of important museums. A final chapter surveys current initiatives to preserve this heritage for future generations.


The Archaeology of Mediterranean Landscapes

The Archaeology of Mediterranean Landscapes

Author: Kevin Walsh

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2014

Total Pages: 381

ISBN-13: 052185301X

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Reviews the palaeoenvironmental evidence and its incorporation with landscape archaeology across the Mediterranean, from the Early Neolithic to the end of the Roman period.


Mosaics in the Medieval World

Mosaics in the Medieval World

Author: Liz James

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2017-10-05

Total Pages: 1748

ISBN-13: 1108508596

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In this book, Liz James offers a comprehensive history of wall mosaics produced in the European and Islamic middle ages. Taking into account a wide range of issues, including style and iconography, technique and material, and function and patronage, she examines mosaics within their historical context. She asks why the mosaic was such a popular medium and considers how mosaics work as historical 'documents' that tell us about attitudes and beliefs in the medieval world. The book is divided into two part. Part I explores the technical aspects of mosaics, including glass production, labour and materials, and costs. In Part II, James provides a chronological history of mosaics, charting the low and high points of mosaic art up until its abrupt end in the late middle ages. Written in a clear and engaging style, her book will serve as an essential resource for scholars and students of medieval mosaics.


Mosaics of Faith

Mosaics of Faith

Author: Rina Talgam

Publisher: Penn State University Press

Published: 2014

Total Pages: 608

ISBN-13:

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An analytical history of the Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Umayyad, and Early Abbasidmosaics in the Holy Land from the second century B.C.E to eighth century C.E.


Plant Evolution in the Mediterranean

Plant Evolution in the Mediterranean

Author: John D. Thompson

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2020

Total Pages: 450

ISBN-13: 0198835140

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This timely and comprehensive update of the original text integrates a diverse and scattered literature to produce a synthetic account of Mediterranean plant evolutionary ecology. It maintains the accessible style of its previous version whilst incorporating recent work in the context of a new structural framework.


The Conservation and Presentation of Mosaics: At What Cost?

The Conservation and Presentation of Mosaics: At What Cost?

Author: Jeanne Marie Teutonico

Publisher: Getty Publications

Published: 2017-09-01

Total Pages: 454

ISBN-13: 1606065335

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In recent years, funding for the conservation of cultural heritage has become increasingly difficult to obtain, and this trend shows no sign of changing significantly in the foreseeable future. The twelfth triennial meeting of the International Committee for the Conservation of Mosaics, held in Sardinia in October 2014, focused on the theme of cost, broadly considered, relating specifically to the preservation and presentation of the world’s mosaic heritage. This handsome, abundantly illustrated volume provides a comprehensive record of the conference. The volume’s sixty-seven papers and posters, comprising contributions from more than one hundred leading experts in the field, reflect the conference’s principal themes: cost, methods of survey and documentation, conservation and management, education and training, backing materials and techniques, presentation and display, and case studies. Papers are presented either in English, French, or Italian; there are abstracts in English and either French or Italian for all entries. The volume will be of interest to conservators, site managers, and others responsible for conserving the mosaic heritage, especially in these challenging times.


The Apse Mosaic in Early Medieval Rome

The Apse Mosaic in Early Medieval Rome

Author: Erik Thunø

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2015-04-20

Total Pages: 361

ISBN-13: 1107069904

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This book focuses on apse mosaics in Rome and engages topics including time, intercession, materiality, repetition, and vision.


The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Art and Architecture

The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Art and Architecture

Author: Ellen C. Schwartz

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2021-11-19

Total Pages: 665

ISBN-13: 0197572200

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Byzantine art has been an underappreciated field, often treated as an adjunct to the arts of the medieval West, if considered at all. In illustrating the richness and diversity of art in the Byzantine world, this handbook will help establish the subject as a distinct field worthy of serious inquiry. Essays consider Byzantine art as art made in the eastern Mediterranean world, including the Balkans, Russia, the Near East and north Africa, between the years 330 and 1453. Much of this art was made for religious purposes, created to enhance and beautify the Orthodox liturgy and worship space, as well as to serve in a royal or domestic context. Discussions in this volume will consider both aspects of this artistic creation, across a wide swath of geography and a long span of time. The volume marries older, object-based considerations of themes and monuments which form the backbone of art history, to considerations drawing on many different methodologies-sociology, semiotics, anthropology, archaeology, reception theory, deconstruction theory, and so on-in an up-to-date synthesis of scholarship on Byzantine art and architecture. The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Art and Architecture is a comprehensive overview of a particularly rich field of study, offering a window into the world of this fascinating and beautiful period of art.


The Art of Ajanta and Sopoćani

The Art of Ajanta and Sopoćani

Author: Om Datt Upadhya

Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass Publ.

Published: 1994

Total Pages: 428

ISBN-13: 9788120809901

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Pauranic Prana-aesthetics, a finer shade different from that of vitalistic aesthetics )the earlier having breathing-rhythm of Ksaya-Vrddhi --diminuation and augmentation--other than the latter`s emphasis only on the rhythm of augmentation), has been delineated in this study with examples from the world`s two of the best art-monuments: Ajanta (India), now not remaining unknown even to the most casual connoisseur, and Sopocani (Yugoslavia), the most significant and monumentally beautiful work of Byzantine art. Tracing Prana-aesthetics as the aesthetics of inner-light coded in the creeper-motif by the artists of Ajanta, this work emphasises decoding of the creeper-motif by Byzantine artists culminating into the frescoes of Sopocani done in Hellenistic-Byzantine aesthetics beatifield by Hesycast meditation to which that of Buddhists was not unknown. Comparisons of various determinant aspects, aesthetics and artistic denominators, and constraints not allowing similar consummation are properly investigated to substantiate the thesis that Prana-aesthetics transfigures at Ajanta but transubstantiates at Sopocani. The significance of the anabolic aspects of this aesthetics is highlighted especially as a way out from the reductivistic tendencies of the present day visual-arts straining them upto the stage of catabolic dissolution.