CATALOGUE

             MOSAIC 
Queen's Baths
(Calpe, Alicante)

Stone tesserae
h: 264 cm; w: 288 cm
Roman culture
2nd century AD
 

This is a mosaic in which a design made up of black tesserae develops on a white background, consisting of a vine emerging from a ceramic vase (krater); among the branches wander winged genies with baskets in their hands in an attitude of gathering the fruit. The ensemble is completed by the presence of a little bird perched on one of the branches. The figures do not have a marked outline, but rather the tesserae of the interior form the drawings.
The mosaic was found in the excavations of M. Pellicer in 1965. J. Cavanilles in the 18th century reports the existence, also in Calpe, of a mosaic with similar characteristics to the one we are dealing with, except that its distribution is symmetrical and that the one he describes has a small mouse at the top of the floor. It is quite possible that the two mosaics were facing each other, forming part of the same paving, around a circular structure from which a drainage system started.
C.S.: 3774
PELLICER, M., 1966.
ABAD CASAL, L., 2002.
CAVANILLES, A.J., 1797.