Floor Mosaic Panel: Grape Harvester with Peacock
Unknown Artist
400s
Medium
marble tesserae
Dimensions
133.5 × 144.8 cm
Classification
Mosaic
Department
Medieval Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
John L. Severance Fund
Accession Number
1969.112
About this artwork
This group of mosaics may be from a church at Maaut El Naaman in northern Syria. The panel depicting Adam and Eve includes a Greek inscription that translates as: "And they ate, [and they] were made naked," from the book of Genesis (3:7–8). It is possible that the mosaic belonged to a pavement illustrating the Garden of Eden. The Grape Harvester with a Peacock also conveys well-known Christian themes. The grapes represent the Eucharistic wine and thus the blood of Christ, while the peacock was a...