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