Pergamonmuseum, Berlin | Principal Floor | Telephos hall Parrot Mosaic Early To Mid-2nd Century BCDetails Unknown
This mosaic is a modern partial reconstruction incorporating original fragments that are easily identifiable among the extensive additions by their polychromy. Two elongated rectangular fields are framed on three sides by several borders: 1) a red (w. 2.5 cm) and 2) a green (w. 2.5 cm) band, 3) a rhombus frieze (w. 13.7 cm) in the colors blue, red, white and black with two eight-petaled flowers in the corners, 4) a green band (w. 2.2 cm), 5) a grey, sculpturally shaded bead and reel on a black ground (w. 5 cm) and 6) a red band (w. 1.8 cm). Inserted into the upper field (h. 66 cm) are three large figurative panels of equal size (w. 51.1 cm, h. 36.5 cm). The left shows a parrot facing right and perched on a cubical object. This emblema is a completed copy, made in 1955, of the original that survives only in fragments (Berlin, Pergamon Museum, Mos. 68). The two additional emblemata were completed without images. The upper register is separated from the lower one by a yellow-brown (w. 10.5 cm) and a grey-brown (w. 8 cm) band. On a bright ground, the latter (h. 47 cm) features a garland of two half and three full arcs that are tied together by four taeniae tied into bows. The half-garland on the left is made up of ivy leaves in various shades of green, red corymbs and a tuft of grass. The white taenia has brown trim. The next garland features yellow laurel leaves outlined in black with red berries, yellow-green ivy leaves, three large yellowish fruits and additional laurel leaves. Branches and wild roses project from the garland. Perched on a branch is a nightingale and cowering beneath the garland is a green woodpecker. The taenia tying this garland to the third, completed one is red with brown-black trim. The fragmented third garland features three round fruits with laurel and ivy leaves as well as a four-petaled flower. Perched on branch is a wheatear pecking at a butterfly. The taenia here has a yellow color with brown trim. The state of preservation of the mosaic at the time it was found is documented by photographs and sketches made by, respectively, August Senz and Richard Bohn. They serve as the basis for a new graphic reconstruction that shows the parts that were not included in the Berlin reconstruction and the places where it departs from the original findings. Thus the two images of a tragic and a comic mask (Berlin, Antikensammlung, Mos. 69 and 74) on either side of the marble base on the east side of the hall are missing. Furthermore, the mosaic includes a third elongated rectangular field on the east side, where, analogous to the lower (i.e., west) field, a garland is depicted. The (originally) central field is divided into three registers, of which only the two outer parts feature rectangular emblemata on a dark ground. The background of the central field, on the other hand, is light-colored; parts of an unidentifiable configuration point to a lost image. Not all original fragments are incorporated in their original place in the partial reconstruction. Thus the section of the rhombus frieze and the bead and reel that is placed at the edge of the lower garland field belongs to the framing of the upper garland register below the emblema of the tragic mask.
