Close up of mosaic edge depicting border with griffin partially visible, after conservation
- Description:
- Close up of mosaic edge depicting border with griffin partially visible, after conservation
- Photographer:
- Image captured by Project Staff
- Date Created:
- July 16, 2003
- Collection:
- Greco-Roman Museum Mosaic Conservation
- Series:
- Post-conservation
- Subseries:
- Stag Hunt Mosaic
- Location:
- Alexandria, Egypt and Al Iskandarīyah
- Time Period:
- Hellenistic Period and Ptolemaic Period
- Topic:
- Art, Greco-Roman, Greek mythology, Animals in art, Mosaics, Tesserae, and Stonework
- Genre:
- color photographs and documentary photography
- Conservation Note:
- A band of dark-gray ivy with dark-yellow berries and heart-shaped leaves partially frames the griffin standing on four legs, facing right, its spread wings pointing back. Its head is that of an eagle with a red crest, and a red tongue showing from the white-pink beak. Its body is made of creamy-white tesserae; shading of the inner parts of the legs is indicated with light-red tesserae. The ends of the feathers are marked with tesserae that are not yellow, as thought previously, but grayish-white. Lead is used for contours and inner details. A stump of a tree divides the griffin from a stag. The animal, running to the right, has fallen to its knees just in front of a leopard (Final Remarks Report).
- Copyright Status:
- copyrighted
- Creative Commons License:
- https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
- Local ID:
- arce_ca_mmc_images_0017.tif
- Project History:
- Within the walls of the Greco-Roman Museum, Alexandria, Egypt are three intricate mosaics of very fine quality between the second and third century, BCE. Under the auspices of the American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE), Father Michele Piccirillo of the Studium Biblicum Franciscum directed the conservation of the mosaics. Notably, it resulted in the public viewing of the stag hunt mosaic for the first time since its discovery. Conservation work was made possible with the support of the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities (formerly the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities).
- Funding Agency:
- Greco-Roman Museum Mosaic Conservation project was made possible with funding by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Grant No. 263-G-00-93-00089-00 and administered by the Egyptian Antiquities Project (EAP) of the American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE).