Fragment of a Floor Mosaic: Ibex near a Tree (400s): Art, History and Details

Fragment of a Floor Mosaic: Ibex near a Tree (400s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

The two mosaic fragments of an ibex and a ram (1969.113) once formed part of a much larger floor mosaic that decorated an early Byzantine church in northern Syria. Displayed upright in the museum context, these mosaic fragments were originally displayed flat, possibly flanking the church's altar to evoke a paradise setting. The mosaic fragment showing the Fall of Adam and Eve (1969.115) is likely to have formed part of the same floor.

Object facts

• Title: Fragment of a Floor Mosaic: Ibex near a Tree
• Date: 400s
• Culture: Byzantium, Northern Syria, Byzantine period, 5th century
• Type: Mosaic
• Technique: marble tesserae
• Dimensions: Overall: 85.1 x 94.6 cm (33 1/2 x 37 1/4 in.); Mounted: 87.6 x 96.5 cm (34 1/2 x 38 in.)
• Collection: MED - Byzantine
• Department: Medieval Art
• Accession number: 1969.114

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.