Getty Museum

Fragmentary Mosaic Floor with Bear Hunt

Date

4th century A.D.

Medium

Stone tesserae

Culture

Roman

Department

Architecture

Institution

Getty Museum

Enough of the fragmentary floor survives to identify the subject as a bear hunt. The figures of three hunters are preserved, and one of them has his name, Lucius, inscribed above his head. The arm of another hunter is preserved along the left edge, along with his name, Minus. The hunters are driving four bears into a net; a fifth has already been captured. The net is set in a semi-circle and tied to trees at the right and left edges of the scene. The hunting scene is surrounded on three sides by a border of loop guilloche, and another vertical border of a foliate garland with a central ribbon frames the right end. The outermost border is a luxurious acanthus scroll. Heads emerge from elaborate leaf complexes in the corners, and smaller figures of erotes with armor, fruits and animals (both real and imaginary) are tucked into the scrolling acanthus along the edges.

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