Getty Museum

Mosaic Fragment with Peacock Facing Left

Date

5th–6th century

Medium

Mosaic

Culture

Roman

Department

Architecture

Institution

Getty Museum

A peacock facing left decorates this mosaic fragment. The body is rendered in blue, beige, white and yellow with a black outline. The long multicolored tail has a red feathery border and a pink background with lines of yellow tesserae indicating the feathers. The feather eyespots are rendered as compressed circles with a black outline and filled with blue, yellow, and white. Long vines surround the bird, and a large bunch of grapes is partially preserved in the bottom left corner. Originally part of a larger mosaic decorating the floor of a church in ancient Syria, this peacock would have faced a second bird (see also [75.AH.122](http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/7291/unknown-maker-mosaic-fragment-with-peacock-facing-right-roman-5th-6th-century/)) on either side of an image of a tree or wine vessel (traditionally an amphora or a kantharos). Long vines with grape clusters wind across the surface and surround each bird. In early Christian art and literature, peacocks were associated with immortality and considered among the most spectacular creatures on earth.

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