Mosaic
![Photograph of a mosaic fragment fashioned from tiny pieces of stone and colored glass to depict a frieze of a flowering lotus and palmettes.](https://isaw.nyu.edu/exhibitions/berthouville/objects/mosaic/@@images/de9cecc7-5f37-4777-acb9-1b08d7872857.png)
Mosaic with Lotuses and Palmettes
- Medium:
- Stone and glass
- Dimensions:
- H. 22.5 cm; L. 32.5 cm
- Context:
- Hadrian’s Villa, Tivoli, Italy
- Date:
- Roman, 125–133 CE
- Inventory Number:
- inv. 57.261
- Lender:
- Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris
© BnF
This fragment of a Roman floor mosaic was found in the ruins of Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli, about thirty kilometers east of Rome. It is part of a famous mosaic of bathing doves from the site, which is thought to be an extremely fine copy of a celebrated work by Sosos of Pergamon (second century BCE)—the only mosaicist mentioned by name in ancient literature.