Mosaic with Personification of the River Tigris

late 100 - 200 CE

Roman

On View

Ancient Middle East Gallery, Level 1, West Wing

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About the Artwork

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Markings

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Provenance

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Exhibition History

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Published References

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Catalogue Raisonné

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Credit Line for Reproduction

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About the Artwork

This wonderfully naturalistic representation of the river Tigris as a bearded man wearing a wreath of river grasses formed one corner of the floor of a room in a house in Seleucia Pieria, the port of the city of Antioch. The decorative scheme of the floor was apparently the personification of the four eastern provinces of the Roman Empire surrounded by the personifications of their four principal rivers, each identified by name in Greek. The elaborate metaphor in mosaic was set in what was probably the dining room of the house.

Title Mosaic with Personification of the River Tigris

Artwork Date late 100 - 200 CE

Artist ----------

Life Dates ----------

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. Roman

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. Unknown

Medium Various stones

Dimensions Overall: 56 3/4 × 56 1/4 × 2 1/2 inches (144.1 × 142.9 × 6.4 cm) Overall (central square): 42 1/2 × 42 1/2 inches (108 × 108 cm) Overall (thickness/depth): 2 1/8 inches (5.4 cm)

Classification Mosaics

Department Greco-Roman and Ancient European

Credit Founders Society Purchase, General Membership Fund

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 40.127

Markings

Inscriptions Inscribed, Greek capitals, across center of circle, either side of head: TIGRIS [Tau, Iota, Gamma, Rho, Iota, Sigma]

Provenance

(Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey)

1940-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

For more information on provenance and its important function in the museum, please visit:

Provenance page

Exhibition History

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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

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Published References

Bulletin of the DIA 20, no. 3 (December 1940): pp. 21-23 (ill.).

Stillwell, R., ed. Antioch-on-the-Orontes, vol. 3. Princeton, 1941, p. 214, no. 177, pl. 88.

Levi, D. Antioch Mosaic Pavements, vol. 1. Princeton, 1947, p. 58.

DIA Handbook. 1971, p. 40 (ill.).

Jones, F. F. "Antioch Mosaics in Princeton," Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University, vol. 40, no 2. 1981, p. 19 (ill.).

Henshaw, Julia P., ed. A Visitors Guide: The Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 1995, p. 118 (ill.).

Cimok, Fatih, ed. Antioch Mosaics. Istanbul, 2000, p. 64-65 (ill.).

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Catalogue Raisoneé

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Credit Line for Reproduction

Roman, Mosaic with Personification of the River Tigris, late 100 - 200 CE, various stones. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase, General Membership Fund, 40.127.