CIRCA 3RD-4TH CENTURY A.D.

The bright yellow, red, green, black and white tesserae are arranged to form rows of perspective cubes within looped patterns, framed by chequered bands and more perspective cubes. Optical illusions were often used by mosaic artists to draw the eye of the spectator and entertain. The motif of perspective cubes can be found across the Roman Empire, often also through the medium of 'opus sectile; for another example of perspective cubes arranged in a dazzling radiating pattern, see a panel in the Sousse Museum in M. Yacoub, The Splendours of Tunisian Mosaics, 2007, p. 146, fig. 67.