Mosaic with Autumn
Culture: Roman
Date: late 2nd-early 3rd century A.D.
Medium: Colored stones in mortar
Dimensions:
26 3/8 x 23 1/16 in. (67 x 58.5 cm)
Credit Line: Courtesy of the Witte Museum, San Antonio, Texas
Object number: L.2007.10
Inscribed: Inscribed, in Greek: MEΠWP (metoporon, autumn)
Provenance: excavated in a house in ancient Gerasa (modern Jerash, Jordan), between 1907 and 1927; sold by Asfar and Sarkis, Damascus, to H. J. Lutcher Stark (1887-1965), Orange, Texas, 1927; his bequest to the Nelda C. and H. J. Lutcher Stark Foundation, Orange, TX, 1965; with the Merrin Gallery, New York, by 1987; Esther Bronstein, by gift to the San Antonio Museum Association, 1991; transferred to the Witte Museum, San Antonio, 1994
Published References
For the whole Gerasa mosaic:
B. Schröder, "Erwerbungen der Antikensammlungen in Deutschland," Archäologischer Anzeiger (1917) 117, no. 39.
C. H. Kraeling, ed., Gerasa: City of the Decapolis (New Haven, 1938), 351ff.
H. Joyce, "A Mosaic from Gerasa in Orange, Texas and Berlin," Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Römische Abteilung 87 (1980) 307-25, pl. 97-113.
I. Kriseleit, "Ein Fussbodenmosaik aus Gerasa," Forschungen und Berichte 24 (1984) 75-97, pl. 15-20.
I. Kriseleit, Antike Mosaiken (Berlin, 1985), 18ff.
Sotheby's London, 9 Dec. 1985, lot 243a.
Sotheby's London, 19 May 1986, lot 288.
Byzantinische Mosaiken aus Jordanien (Vienna, 1986), 44f., 129f., figs. 28-29, 122.
M. Piccirillo, ed., I mosaici di Giordania (Rome, 1986), 32, 109, fig. 90.
D. von Boeselager, "Zum Mosaik aus Gerasa," in Fifth International Colloquium on Ancient Mosaics, Journal of Roman Archaeology Suppl. 9, pt. 2, ed. R. Ling (Ann Arbor, 1995), 57-63.
R. A. Grossmann, "A New Reconstruction of a Mosaic from Gerasa," Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin (2006) 149-153.
Label Text
This fragment belongs to a floor mosaic from Jerash (ancient Gerasa) in modern Jordan. Though its original appearance is uncertain, the mosaic consisted of several mythological scenes, including depictions of the triumph of Dionysos and the drunken Herakles, surrounded by a border of alternating busts of Muses and Greek intellectuals, with personifications of the four Seasons at the corners. The Witte’s fragment, now heavily restored, portrays Autumn, complete with a sickle and part of a Greek inscription giving his name.
Part of this mosaic was excavated in 1907 by a German team, and that portion is now in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin. Not long thereafter, the rest of the mosaic was lifted, and most of the remaining fragments were acquired in 1927 by H. J. Lutcher Stark. These fragments are now dispersed among several American museums, including the Yale University Art Gallery, the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology at the University of Michigan, and the Beard Gallery at Wheaton College.
(J. Powers, 2008)
Part of this mosaic was excavated in 1907 by a German team, and that portion is now in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin. Not long thereafter, the rest of the mosaic was lifted, and most of the remaining fragments were acquired in 1927 by H. J. Lutcher Stark. These fragments are now dispersed among several American museums, including the Yale University Art Gallery, the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology at the University of Michigan, and the Beard Gallery at Wheaton College.
(J. Powers, 2008)
On view
In Collection(s)
The San Antonio Museum of Art is in the process of digitizing its permanent collection. This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect SAMA's complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of such records is ongoing.
This resource has been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the Human Endeavor.
