Mosaic Art Tradition

	Mosaic Art Tradition	Mosaic Tables
By Julie Menelaou	By Photini Ashri
It has been called the eternal art form. In its earliest applications the use of mosaics was found in the form of ancient pebbled floor covering and as decorative embellishment to buildings in Samaria where sectiles were pushed into clay walls to strengthen and adorn them. Dating as far back as 2600 BC, stones and pebbles were used to form panels of architecture. Mosaic as an art form covered two principle periods in history, first the Greco-Roman period, from Alexander the Great to the fall of Rome. One thing is certain, mosaics reached their height of widespread appreciation during the Roman period where not even one house in Rome did not have their inner hall covered by mosaics and where the rain both cleaned and enlivened the natural stone colours. The history of mosaics goes back some 4000 years or more, with the original use of Terra Cotta cones pushed point-first into a background to give decoration. By the 8th century BC there were pebbled pavements, using different coloured stones to create patterns, although these tended to be unstructured decoration. It was the Greeks in the fourth century B who raised the pebble technique to an art form, with precise geometric patterns and detailed scenes of people and animals. By 200 BC manufactured pieces of Tesserae were being used to give extra detail and range of colour to the work. The use of small Tesserae meant that mosaics could imitate paintings. Many of the mosaics preserved at Pompeii were the work of Greek artists, who had given the art a different dimension. From about the middle of the 2nd century, mosaics were found in wealthy houses all over the Hellenistic world, from Spain to Afghanistan. There are many indications of a substantial rise in living standards in this period and people in different areas of the Greek world adopted mosaics along with other aspects of a Greek lifestyle as a way of expressing a Greek identity or displaying a fashionable familiarity with Greek culture. During the 12th century mosaic life in Cyprus was on a rise and many new monasteries were built and decorated with icons and mosaics. Some remnants of Cypriot church mosaics show the rich decoration, which was being used in mosaics by the 6th century.

Above & below are two large mosaic tables created by Photini Ashri, a mosaic artist, and are part of the furniture and decoration in a beautiful Cyprus Villa aptly named Villa Mosaica which contains many mosaic art works by Photini.

It has been called the eternal art form. In its earliest applications the use of mosaics was found in the form of ancient pebbled floor covering and as decorative embellishment to buildings in Samaria where sectiles were pushed into clay walls to strengthen and adorn them. Dating as far back as 2600 BC, stones and pebbles were used to form panels of architecture. Mosaic as an art form covered two principle periods in history, first the Greco-Roman period, from Alexander the Great to the fall of Rome.
One thing is certain, mosaics reached their height of widespread appreciation during the Roman period where not even one house in Rome did not have their inner hall covered by mosaics and where the rain both cleaned and enlivened the natural stone colours.
The history of mosaics goes back some 4000 years or more, with the original use of Terra Cotta cones pushed point-first into a background to give decoration.
By the 8th century BC there were pebbled pavements, using different coloured stones to create patterns, although these tended to be unstructured decoration.
It was the Greeks in the fourth century B who raised the pebble technique to an art form, with precise geometric patterns and detailed scenes of people and animals.
By 200 BC manufactured pieces of Tesserae were being used to give extra detail and range of colour to the work. The use of small Tesserae meant that mosaics could imitate paintings.
Many of the mosaics preserved at Pompeii were the work of Greek artists, who had given the art a different dimension. From about the middle of the 2nd century, mosaics were found in wealthy houses all over the Hellenistic world, from Spain to Afghanistan.
There are many indications of a substantial rise in living standards in this period and people in different areas of the Greek world adopted mosaics along with other aspects of a Greek lifestyle as a way of expressing a Greek identity or displaying a fashionable familiarity with Greek culture.
During the 12th century mosaic life in Cyprus was on a rise and many new monasteries were built and decorated with icons and mosaics. Some remnants of Cypriot church mosaics show the rich decoration, which was being used in mosaics by the 6th century.