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Floor Mosaic Panel: Grape Harvester with Peacock
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
This group of mosaics may be from a church at Maaut El Naaman in northern Syria. The panel depicting Adam and Eve includes a Greek inscription that translates as: "And they ate, [and they] were made naked," from the book of Genesis (3:7–8). It is possible that the mosaic belonged to a pavement illustrating the Garden of Eden. The Grape Harvester with a Peacock also conveys well-known Christian themes. The grapes represent the Eucharistic wine and thus the blood of Christ, while the peacock was a symbol of immortality.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineFloor Mosaic Panel: Grape Harvester with Peacock, 400s. Byzantium, Northern Syria, Byzantine period, 5th century. Marble tesserae; overall: 133.5 x 144.8 cm (52 9/16 x 57 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund, 1969.112
