Painting With Stone

January 3, 2007

The first ancient mosaic I saw was at Masada, Herod the Great’s hilltop palace fortress overlooking the Dead Sea. It looked like a rug on the floor, but this “rug” didn’t need to be picked up and shaken out, and after 2,000 years, its color hadn’t faded! I could not believe something so old was so well preserved. In Megiddo, where a third-century prayer hall was recently uncovered, the 15 x 30 foot (4.5 x 9 meter) floor showcased four rectangular mosaics, making the area look like one scattered with small rugs.

Zeugma, Turkey––believed to be inhabited from prehistoric times and a thriving town near the Euphrates River during Greek and Roman times––claims to have the largest collection of ancient mosaics anywhere in the world. Yet, no particular culture or country can claim that the mosaic art form began there. Rather, it appeared sporadically in many locations. Some of the oldest mosaics, 3,000 to 4,000 years BC, are found in Mesopotamia, where small cones of baked clay were embedded in mud in geometric designs and then painted. Water-worn pebbles were used throughout the Greek world from the sixth to the fourth centuries BC. By the third century BC, pebbles were replaced with tesserae (small, cut cubes). Tesserae allowed artists to create scenes with much more detail, making them look more realistic. These later mosaics were so popular that even a common house was decorated with them. Paintings adorned walls, but mosaics were especially, but not exclusively, used for floors, often the dining room.

How Mosaics Were Made
Tesserae could be cut from marble, hard stone, glass, terra-cotta (brownish-orange, fired clay), mother-of-pearl, or enamel, from one centimeter (0.4 inches) square to as small as a few millimeters. Most mosaics were made on site, but an “eblemata”––the central feature of a mosaic and of extremely high quality––was made off site and transported in terra-cotta molds. Some mosaics were copies of paintings; the paintings didn’t survive, but the mosaics did.

The method used did not vary much over the years. The small cubes were cut from thin slabs of marble or colored stone, cut into strips, and then broken or cut into cubes. The cubes were set into wet plaster, cement, or putty. Wall mosaics required three layers of plaster made out of varying mixtures of lime, sand, brick or marble dust, and chopped straw. The scene or design was then painted on the plaster and immediately set with the colored cubes on top of the painting. Outlines were made with thin strips of lead. The cubes for walls were often set at varying surface planes, so the scene was enhanced by the way the light hit it. In many mosaics, the tesserae had no spaces between them, so grouting was not necessary.

The Restoration of Mosaics
Near Amman, Jordan, is Madaba, known as the “City of Mosaics,” and home to the famous Mosaic Map of Jerusalem and the Holy Land (with two million tesserae!). In 1992, the Madaba Mosaic School was founded to restore mosaics and train young people in the ancient art. Their Web site explains the restoration process and claims that the school is the only one of its kind in the Middle East.

Only the most important mosaics are left where they are found. If others are worth restoring, they are covered in plaster to keep all the tesserae intact and placed on pallets. A large mosaic is broken up into smaller pieces, so it can be worked on more easily and then reassembled at the end. First, the original backing has to be removed and replaced with a new one made of the same composition as the original, if possible. Then it is cleaned; sometimes tufts of grass are removed first. A hot stylus is used to remove dirt or old glue, as well as to polish.

Today, it is fairly easy to find places that teach the art of making modern mosaics: even a mosaic “carpet” can be purchased for homes. The resin and fiberglass mesh used for a backing is so flexible that it can be rolled up and easily transported. It is popular because it is so easy to care for and, as the ancient world shows us, it is very durable.

By Charleeda Sprinkle

Photo Credit: Photo: www.israelimages.com