Chapter V of VI · Rows that run with the water
Le Onde
Below the gold, the sea: two dolphins,seven fish and an octopus with eight curling arms.The water runs in long wavering rowsthat only break to flow round a creature.
Scroll to discover
watch the rows bend round each fish
4,206 tesserae · The sea
The waterruns roundthe fish.
Sea floors full of fish, dolphins and octopus are among the best-loved subjects of Roman and late-antique mosaic, from North Africa to the Adriatic. They are also the best place to see andamento at work, because water is nothing but rows.
We laid guide lines along the waves before setting a single blue piece; the rows run parallel to them in a slow undulation from teal to deep sea. Where a dolphin or a fish interrupts them, the rows bend and wrap its outline, then straighten again. The white crests are small arcs, a single row thick.
- Tesserae in the creatures
- 4,206
- Creatures
- 10
- Octopus arms
- 8, with pale suckers
From cartone to tessera
The same figure, three times
