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Description: |
At its
peak, the Roman empire stretched from north-western Europe
to the Near East, as well as, encompassing all the
Mediterranean lands. Roman villas and palaces were built all
over the empire, but most are hidden from us today. One
exceptional palace was uncovered in the 1960’s when a West
Sussex farmer was digging a water main trench and uncovered
fabulous mosaic floors and massive wall foundations. After
many years of excavation, it is known today as the
Fishbourne Roman Palace (circa 75AD). The palace had four
long wings, forming a square, that looked inward to formal
gardens enhanced with beautiful fountains. It was a place of
power and prestige on the far western edge of the Roman
empire.
This amazing palace at one time housed
hundreds of people with over 100 rooms, of which most had
ancient mosaic floors. Today, 20 floors survive. The early
floors were constructed out of small cubes, called tesserae,
of local stone. The cubes could be as small as ¼” squares up
to about ¾” squares, depending on the details. These floors
were mostly black and creamy white. The cubes were arranged
in patterns, from very contemporary geometric shapes to
figures, motifs and patterns. The later
floors introduced shades of
white, blue, red, and yellow, using tesserae made from
marble, brick, tile and pottery.
Today, we marvel at
the tremendous detail given to these works of art. They were
created to impress! Add to it the fact that some areas of
the palace had a heating system under the mosaic floors,
along with interior bathes, makes this palace
stand out among all others. Quite
amazing for 75AD!
Roma: Toggled to the Past
was inspired by the geometric shapes found in many of the
mosaic floors found at Fishbourne Roman Palace. Using a
mixture of techniques, the rounds, squares,
rectangles and 6-sided polygon shapes link together to form
the central area of the necklace. A three-dimensional toggle
“pulls everything together” as the pendant. Flat peyote
straps take the necklace to the finish line ending in a
sliding bar clasp.
Finished length 20" not including
toggle.
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