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Synopsis
The book includes the most important Antioch mosaic pavements displayed in the Hatay Archaeological Museum in Antakya, Turkey, seventeen different institutions in the USA and the Louvre. The mosaics were brought to light in and around Antioch on the Orontes (Antakya), Seleucia Pieria (Çevlik) and Daphne (Defne) in 1932-37. As a group, the Antioch mosaics demonstrate a remarkable continuity with the Hellenistic artistic tradition as seen in the preservation of classical subjects and decorative devices, such as the illusionistic treatment of the inhabited vine scrolls or ribbon borders. The common use of multiple borders to frame figural panels at Antioch is also reminiscent of the framing of Hellenistic emble-mata, or portable panels prepared in workshops and then inserted at the sites. The three-dimensional treatment of interiors and landscapes, the naturalistic representation of the human anatomy, and the variety of colors employed for the Antiochene compositions, indicate a dependence on painting styles. Such skill in the production of stone ‘paintings’ effectively denies the solidity of the floor and tricks the eye of the viewer, not to mention their physical relationship to the room itself. Finds from nearby sites (Apamea, Zeugma, Shahba-Philippopolis, and Palmyra) are similarly ‘traditional’ and point to the existence of a ‘school’ of eastern art beyond that of the Antiochene workshops. Such illusionism reaches the height of fashion during the Severan period in Antioch.Book Details
Published
June 1, 2004
Publisher
Milet Publishing Ltd
Pages
250
ISBN
9789757528494