Roman, Early Imperial Period, possibly from Roman Tunisia, ca. 1st to 2nd century CE. An incredible mosaic depicting the head of the god Mercury, set within a round, elaborate border. The head is lifesize, and overall the mosaic is vibrantly colored, with a range of stones used to create the tesserae/tessellae. Mercury's face is a series of creamy whites, oranges, pinks, and deeper reds, with black and grey forming outlines and filling out his hair. The god is depicted wearing his distinctive petasos, the winged hat, with grey-green and ocher-yellow forming the wings. He has curled hair that falls to his neck, given lifelike depth by the artist through the use of many-colored tesserae. Mercury's head stands out in the center of the mosaic, surrounded by a wide border of pale, creamy white quartzite tesserae. Size: 0.75" L x 28.75" W x 30.4" H (1.9 cm x 73 cm x 77.2 cm)

Around this is a circular border of black and yellow crenellations; around that is a border of black, grey, pink, and yellow in a double-stranded braid. Outside of that is a darker, square-edged background of fairly uniform reddish-brown. Set within this background, at each corner, are four masks, each divided vertically in two so that one side is ocher yellow and the other creamy white, each with two thin, string-like lines flowing from the top of it, further giving the impression of masks laid aside, waiting to be worn.

Mercury was one of the major Classical deities, the patron god of financial success and commerce, as well as eloquence and poetry. He was a trickster god, and he also acted as a psychopomp, leading souls to the underworld. Ovid wrote that Mercury carried Morpheus's dreams from the valley of Somnus to sleeping humans. For these reasons, he came to be seen as the "keeper of boundaries," forming a bridge between the upper and lower worlds. He also fulfilled that role by acting as a messenger for the other gods. According to Caesar, he was the most popular god in Britain and Gaul, where he was syncretized with the Germanic god Wotan and considered to be the inventor of all arts.

Mosaics (opus tesellatum) are some of our enduring images from the Roman world. They reveal everyday life, social interactions, and even things like clothing styles, personal ornament, and the interior of buildings in ways other styles of Roman art generally do not. This mosaic would have decorated the home of a wealthy patron of the arts, and probably formed part of a floor. Many of the mosaics we know of with this level of detail and style came from Roman North Africa, and Tunisia in particular. The style of braided border looks very similar to one from a luxurious villa found in Hadrumetum (now Sousse, Tunisia), and now held at the Getty Museum (http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/7069/unknown-maker-mosaic-of-a-lion-attacking-an-onager-roman-ad-150-200/).

We cannot find a perfectly comparable example with this type of subject matter and size. To give you an idea of what is available, see for example this mosaic with mythological subject matter: http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/Lot/a-roman-marble-mosaic-panel-circa-3rd-5321865-details.aspx that sold for $30000 in 2010; this pair of smaller panels with less sophisticated subject matter: http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/Lot/a-late-roman-mosaic-panel-circa-4th-5th-2034792-details.aspx that sold in 2001 for roughly $6000, and this similar-sized but more colorful example: http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/Lot/a-late-roman-mosaic-panel-circa-4th-5th-5509263-details.aspx that sold for $25000 in 2011.

Provenance: private East Coast, USA collection

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Small losses at edges. Some areas of missing tesselae, most notably in the upper left (facing) beside the head and then low on the border, both areas clearly visible in the photos. Mounted on concrete in a black metal frame.