LOT 0582

Roman Mosaic with Kantharos and Vines

4TH-6TH CENTURY A.D.

26 1/2 x 26 1/2 in. (56 kg, 67.5 x 67.5 cm).

An attractive rectangular panel of mosaic tesserae with central ribbed kantharos executed in coral pink, amber-yellow, and green segments with tiered foot; issuing from the scaphoid opening two vines with curled tendrils and trefoil leaves in pale green; white field with grey-black border; restored and set into a mid 20th century reinforced mortar matrix.

Acquired in the 1950s-early 1990s.
From the Igor Karmiloff (1925-2016) collection, UN economist and author of Flashbacks, Icons of Impermanence, Bloomington, 2009.

This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.12746-233888.
This lot has been cleared against the Art Loss Register database, and is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

See Pappalardo, U., Greek and Roman Mosaics, New York, 2019; cf. Neal, D.S. & Cosh, S.R., Roman Mosaics of Britain. Vol I. Northern Britain, Society of Antiquaries, London, 2002; Watts, D.J., Christians and Pagans in Roman Britain, Abingdon, 1991.

The motif of the kantharos, krater or amphora with vines emerging from the mouth is widely represented in classical art and was seemingly a popular motif for the mosaicist with examples found in areas as widespread as North Africa and northern Britain. The origins of the motif are probably to be found in the cult of Bacchus (Greek Dionysos) with its ritualised drunkenness expressed in the vine which gives rise to the grapes to be transformed into wine, and the drinking cup from which it is received. In later Roman times, the motif was reinterpreted as Christ (the Eucharist symbolised by the cup) from whom the vine grows representing the spread of the Christian message and the growth of the church (Watts, 1991, p.208).