Mosaic with geometric design: fragment of geometric pattern (one of four fragments from a floor)

One of four panels from a large, square floor pavement with geometric design and inscription (2016.53.4). The overall geometric design consists of lozenges pieced together at the corners to create smaller squares (the ‘lozenge-star-and-square pattern’) which radiate around a larger, central square (1). The lozenges are delineated by black borders and filled alternately with yellow and orange tesserae. The four small squares contain geometric filling ornaments: two Solomon’s knots and two rainbow patterns. A large square in the center is filled with a four-petalled, white flower on an orange background. A triple border surrounds the central geometric panel and consists of a guilloche (braided ribbon) in shades of orange, black, and white; a crowstep pattern in black; and a plain black band (2). 1. See a description of the motif in Catherine Balmelle. Le décor géométrique de la mosaïque romaine. Vol. 1. (Picard, 1985), 266-67 pl. 176. 2. AIEMA nos.194, 203, 205, Ruth and Asher Ovadiah, Hellenistic, Roman and Early Byzantine Mosaic Pavements in Israel, (L’Erma di Bretschneider, 1987), p. 202, no.B2; crowstep: AIEMA no.162, Ovadiah p. 201, no. A4