Peacock mosaic
Baptistery and Südhalle (South Room)
The magnificent mosaic fragment depicting a peacock, now on the wall in the Südhalle museum, once adorned the apse of the long passage (or narthex) between this and the basilica. The peacock – a symbol of immortality and thus an allegory of the resurrection – is depicted front-on, tail fanned. Judiciously used glass-paste tesserae (in blue, turquoise, etc.) lend the bird a splendid polychromatic quality. The recent restorations have shown that the tesserae in the eye of the tail must have been covered by a very thin gold film to enrich the mosaic’s beauty still further.
MOSAICO DEL PAVONE ● AREA ARCHEOLOGICA AQUILEIA ● MOSAICO DEL PAVONE AQUILEIA ● MOSAICO PAVONE SUDHALLE AQUILEIA
COMMENTI
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