Mosaic with a symposium scene

CONDITION

Despite minor damage (particularly along the borders) and small repairs, the mosaic is complete and remarkably well preserved, especially considering its size and the number of tesserae used (many thousands).

PROVENANCE

Formerly in the Joseph Ziadé collection, Beirut, Lebanon, 1950s, thence by descent, with Farid Ziadé; ex-Lebanese private collection, acquired from Farid Ziadé in 1982; private European collection, since 2000.

EXHIBITED

Château de Boudry, Neuchâtel, Switzerland, ongoing.

PUBLISHED

Chamay J., Banquet à la romaine, in Art passions: Revue suisse d’art et de culture, Geneva, September 2013, pp. 72-75.
Halm-Tisserant M., Λεπτον, παρεργον: Du “menu” au “hors-d’œuvre”: La notion de détail dans l’art et dans le discours sur l’esthétique, in Ktèma, 37, 2012, p. 89, notes 91-92, pl. 1. c.
http://www.chateaudeboudry.ch/?a=38,58,105

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Andreae B., Antike Bildmosaiken, Mainz/Rhine, 2003, pp. 46-51 (Vatican).
Blanc N. and Nercessian A., La cuisine romaine antique, Paris, 1992, p. 181 (Aquileia).
Blanchard-Lemee M. et al., Sols de l’Afrique romaine: Mosaïques de Tunisie, Paris, 1995, pp. 73 ff.
Dunbabin K. M. D., Mosaics of the Greek and Roman World, Cambridge, 1999, fig. 26.
Hagenow G. Der nichtausgekehrte Speisaal, in Rheinisches Landesmuseum, 121, 1978, pp. 260-275.

This mosaic is impressive for its outstanding color and iconographic palette, as well as for its size and state of preservation. It features a scene from the daily life of the Roman aristocracy, a very realistic and lively symposium (banquet). This work, which certainly adorned a floor in the villa of a wealthy private citizen living in the eastern part of the Roman Empire, was placed in a room intended for symposia.

The scene shows nine guests, more or less dressed, lying on a large couch in the shape of a horseshoe (known as a stibadium and used especially during the last centuries of the Imperial period), around which seven servants are busy ensuring that the banquet participants are perfectly at ease. At the back of the large room, one sees a door ajar and a window with a sliding curtain that probably looked into the inner courtyard of the house.

The couch, whose shape foreshadows the Christian images of the Last Supper, occupies a large part of the room. It surrounds three circular low tables, elegantly covered with openwork and embroidered tablecloths, on which are arranged large silver dishes containing the poultry meat consumed during the meal.

Although the guests appear to have already eaten and drunk a great deal, the dinner (which, for the Romans, was the main meal and took place in the late afternoon, before nightfall) here reaches the stage of the main course, consisting of three ducks or geese that one of the servants, equipped with a long knife, is about to carve.

The mosaicist has indicated an impressive number of details, including the following significant examples: each figure (servant or guest) differs from the others by his attitude, by his position and especially by rich and varied somatic characteristics, so that each image becomes an individual portrait; the interactions between the figures are perfectly rendered by their gazes and/or gestures; the two servants on the right are in charge of a large bronze vessel, a sort of samovar used to serve heated wine, mentioned by Cicero as a very prized vessel; on the left, another servant, apparently asleep, is responsible for a cylindrical object, probably a wall lantern in oiled parchment; a mouse nibbles food scraps under a table; a cat turns towards the viewer.

But the most striking detail in this mosaic, which gives it its name (in Greek, asarotos oikos designates the unswept floor), clearly is the room’s floor, completely littered with the remains of the meal eaten by the guests. Fruit and vegetables, but also fish, seafood, shellfish and remains of poultry and pork reflect the extravagant eating habits of Roman aristocracy at that time.

The asarotos oikos (or asaroton) is a curious iconographic subject attested from the Hellenistic period. According to Pliny the Elder (Natural History, XXXVI, 184), the inventor of the theme was Sosus of Pergamon, a famous mosaicist of the 2nd century B. C., whose work is known to us only through copies. The scenes of unswept floors remained a popular subject until the Roman Imperial period, as documented by the decorated floors discovered in several provinces, not only in Italy but also in North Africa and in Anatolia. However, our mosaic is probably the only known example in which the theme of the asarotos oikos is directly associated with a symposium.

Among the examples that have survived up to modern times, one should mention the following: the mosaic in the Museo Gregoriano Profano, in the Vatican, which comes from a Roman villa on the Aventine Hill and is signed by Heraclitus, a mosaicist of Greek origin; a more fragmentary specimen from Aquileia; the example in the Bardo National Museum, in Tunis, which, like our scene, is characterized by a dark rather than a light background.

Mosaic of a Symposium with Asarotos Oikos

Price: POR
Conditions: The overall condition of the mosaic is excellent and is completely intact. This feature is remarkable, considering the monumentality of the mosaic. A wide array of colored stone tesserae were employed, as well as glass tesserae in red and orange, brilliant colors that were used for details of the figures, such as the lips, and details of the clothes.

This incredible mosaic depicts nine men reclining on a semi-circular couch, known as a stibadum or sigma couch. Lavishly attended by seven male servants, all recline on their left in typical Roman fashion, for the symposium (or dinner party) is well underway, as suggested by the scraps of food that cover the floor, as well as the various stages of undress and drunkenness of the guests. The men dine in the characteristic Roman dining room, or triclinium, with the rear of the room closed-off by drapes and doorways, leaving the front of room open for entertaining and dining. The sheer size, composition and detail of this mosaic make it a true masterpiece of ancient art and one of the most important and spectacular mosaics from the ancient world. Offering a fascinating glimpse at a scene from the everyday lives of aristocratic Romans, this mosaic pays great attention to detail, both on historical as well as whimsical levels. Everywhere one looks there is something new to discover-a mouse nibbling on a piece of food, a servants pouring hot liquid from a cistern while another fans the fire with glowing embers beneath, a guest passed out in drunken repose, another sipping wine from a glass flask held high over his head, a cat silently gazing out at the viewer.

Although it appears that the men have been eating and drinking for some time, the main course is about to be served, as a servant holds up one of three large birds (geese? chicken?) laid out on round tables in front of the stibadum. Each table is topped with an oval, silver platter, festooned with polychrome garlands, and covered with a diaphanous cloth with fringed borders. Another example of painstaking detail, the mosaicist depicts the silhouette of the table-legs through the cloth as they arch to meet the table-top. The attention to the facial details, physique and differing characteristics of each diner and servant suggests that these are actual portraits and are not “stock-images”. No two figures are alike. The central figure, who looks over his left shoulder and grasps at his hair with his right hand, seems to be the central focus, as the at the highest central location in the mosaic. The interaction between all the figures, the attention to eye contact and narration, is wildly impressive, and gives the scene a sense of freshness and vitality. The variety of colors used in the mosaic is also astonishing. The number of colors used to indicate skin alone, from light pink to white to rose to yellow to grey, is astounding. In turn, the sumptuous fabrics of their clothing, coverings and pillows, including rich greens, deep burgundies and brilliant ochre, add sumptuousness to the scene. The servants have shaved heads with a central, high pony-tail. This is a common coiffure for Roman slaves of a particular status. The central servant, who is about to carve one of the three fowl displayed on round tables, has long hair similar to the two central diners. Carvers were servants of high status, thus explaining his noticeable difference from the other slaves. Additional silver and bronze vessels are displayed, particularly a large bronze cauldron at the lower right, a bronze lidded box with link-chain at lower left and a large silver single-handled pitcher also at lower right. The dramatic, black color of the floor is a noticeable contrast to the lively figural scene above, and although both parts of the mosaic are visually busy, the dynamism of the figures is perfectly balanced by the quite repose of the “still-life” below. The floor in front of the diners is littered with scraps from the meal. A wonderful array of items is depicted and gives great insight into the typical, aristocratic palette and meal. Fish heads and bones, shrimp heads, snail shells, mollusc shells, chicken bones and claws reflect the types of meats and shellfish served. Artichoke stems, long leafy greens, nuts, etc…

This theme of asarotos oikos or “unswept floor” is first credited to the Hellenistic master of mosaics, the famous Sosos of Pergamon. The Roman historian Pliny describes the works of Sosos in detail⁽¹⁾, which is invaluable, as the originals are lost. However, several themes, including asarotos oikos, where employed in later Roman mosaics, with astounding success. Although dining scenes and the “unswept floor” of Sosos were popular in Roman mosaics, this is probably the only example where both themes are depicted in a single scene. Coupled with the sheer size of the piece, the result is breathtaking. The composition also foreshadows that employed to depict one of the most famous scenes in Christian art, namely the Last Supper of Christ and His Disciples. The connection of pagan Roman symposium to Christian iconography is another unique feature of this mosaic.

The large size, theme and skill all directly relate to the mosaic program of the Romanized East. This mosaic no doubt belonged in a private residence, undoubtedly commissioned by the owners themselves. This is most probable because this is a scene from everyday life, not a religious or mythological scene. There are other known Roman examples of the “unswept floor” such a Roman mosaic signed by a Greek Heraklitos, now in the Museo Gregoriano Profano, Vatican Museums, with an overall length of 4.05 meters and a date of 2nd century A.D. This mosaic also depicts a mouse nibbling on a leftover scrap, suggesting that this may have been a feature of the original work by Sosos himself. The mosaic is illustrated on the floor in three strips, corresponding to the general layout of a triclinium. Thus we can imagine that the Vatican mosaic would have been viewed by diners as they actually ate and discarded their own scraps onto the mosaic-a truly Roman blend of life imitating art, one that is even more exaggerated in our mosaic. Mosaics that incorporate large-scale figures are also a characteristic that is particularly Levantine. Figure carpets of similar composition with isolated figures spread over white ground are well established in the second half of the fifth century A.D., such as the Hunting Pavement from Triclinos Building at Apamea c. A.D. 539. In Eastern Roman Empire, scenes from everyday life are a particularly popular theme in mosaic floors, and a wonderful balance to the many known mythological ones. The Great Palace mosaic of Constantinople is a stunning example of the depiction of secular the world by Late Roman mosaicists. Here we also see the combination of the “unswept floor” with a scene of Roman aristocratic life. Another charming example of a mosaic depicting a scene from daily life is one of female musicians from the site of Mariamin, dating to the end of fourth century A.D. It is probably also from a dining room, one of very grand scale, (though not as large as the mosaic in discussion). In the Late Roman period, the three typical rectilinear couches of the triclinium are replaced in later centuries by a semi-circular couch known as a stibadum or sigma-couch. There is some debate over when the stibadum gains popularity, but it is generally represented in mosaics and wall paintings post 3rd century A.D., although the form is known in the previous centuries. The three-dimensional style of the piece, as well as the suggestion of depth, places it, no later than A.D. 450.

⁽¹⁾Pavimenta originem apud Graecos habent elaborata arte picturaeratione, donec lithostrota expulere eam. celeberrimus fuit in hoc genere Sosus,qui Pergami stravit quem vocant asaroton oecon, quoniam purgamenta cenae inpavimentis quaeque everri solent velut relicta fecerat parvis e tessellistinctisque in varios colores. mirabilis ibi columba bibens et aquam umbracapitis infuscans; apricantur aliae scabentes sese in canthari labro. — Pliny, Natural History, Book XXXVI. 184.