Roman Mosaic Box Lid

Mosaic-style box lid; based on Roman mosaics: border from Roman floor mosaics on the Island of Delphos, c. 1st C BCE; dolphins from Roman mosaic c. 3rd C CE

Finished mosaic box - front angle

Box interior bottom lined with blue cotton velvet

Unfinished wooden box, painted with a gray to match the grout of Roman mosaic exemplars

40# paper, marked to cut into 1/2 cm squares for mosaic tiles

Tiles in process: paper cut into 1/2 cm strips, ready to be cut into tiles

Paper tiles in process of being placed on box lid using tweezers

Dolphin in process

Tiles in place, ready for color

...some blue on a couple of tiles to test color-fastness of the paint on top of the Mod-Podge I was using to hold the tiles in place

Preliminary colors of dolphins

...after painting this, I decided that the colors should be to be toned down to better match the exemplar

Fish colors completed

...some colors slightly muted to match exemplar...

Roman mosaic, c. 3rd C CE, detail

Mosaic from Tarraco, 3rd century CE. (Archaeological Museum, Tarragona, Spain) - worldhistory.org

Exemplar for border - Roman Floor Mosaic

Island of Delos, c. 1st C BCE

Exemplar 2 for border

Floor Mosaic, Roman, Island of Delos, c. 1st C BCE