Inlay fragment, rekhyt birds

Ptolemaic Period–Roman Period

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 134

Mosaic glass techniques allowed multiples of an image to be created: a figural or design composition was made by bundling colored glass canes, which were then drawn out into a long bar (10.130.2729, 17.194.2463) that was sectioned at right angles, probably by being struck with an appopriate tool, to produce small inlay tiles.

Such elements could also be used side by side to create repeating patterns for long borders (26.7.1228). Here it looks as though mosaic tiles with rekhyt birds were created and refused into a larger composition with other elements that had already been preformed. Possibly the additional remelting led to some of the distortion one sees in the lines and patterns.

Inlay fragment, rekhyt birds, Glass

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