Artist unknown / Elephant Attacking a Feline / late 4th century

Artist unknown
Elephant Attacking a Feline
late 4th century - 5th century
View Larger Image

View Full Catalog Record Below

This image is one of over 108,000 from the AMICA Library (formerly The Art Museum Image Consortium Library- The AMICO Library™), a growing online collection of high-quality, digital art images from over 20 museums around the world. www.davidrumsey.com/amica offers subscriptions to this collection, the finest art image database available on the internet. EVERY image has full curatorial text and can be studied in depth by zooming into the smallest details from within the Image Workspace.

Preview the AMICA Library™ Public Collection in Luna Browser Now

Cultures and time periods represented range from contemporary art, to ancient Greek, Roman, and Egyptian works.
Types of works include paintings, drawings, watercolors, sculptures, costumes, jewelry, furniture, prints, photographs, textiles, decorative art, books and manuscripts.

Gain access to this incredible resource through either a monthly or a yearly subscription and search the entire collection from your desktop, compare multiple images side by side and zoom into the minute details of the images. Visit www.davidrumsey.com/amica for more information on the collection, click on the link below the revolving thumbnail to the right, or email us at amica@luna-img.com .

Creator Name: Unknown
Creator Nationality: Asian; Middle Eastern; Syrian
Creator Role: Artist
Creator Name-CRT: Artist unknown
Title: Elephant Attacking a Feline
View: front
Creation Start Date: 366
Creation End Date: 499
Creation Date: late 4th century - 5th century
Object Type: Architecture
Materials and Techniques: marble mosaic of multi-colored stones
Dimensions: H.41-1/4 x W.81-1/2 in.
AMICA Contributor: The Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Owner Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
ID Number: 69.49.2
Credit Line: The John R. Van Derlip Fund
Rights: http://www.artsmia.org/restrictions.html
Context:

Animal combat is a Near Eastern theme which entered early into Greek and later Roman art. The introduction of large-scale animal compositions was an important innovation in mosaic decoration, possibly stimulated by circus spectacles. In the fourth century A.D. pavement mosaics of hunting scenes were installed in the villa of Constantine the Great in Antioch, setting an important local precedent.

In this fragment of a larger scene, the elephant appears to be somersaulting the tiger with his trunk. The two animals are flattened and generalized into a linear surface pattern, with little attempt at anatomical accuracy. The Romans associated the African elephant with military victory, while tradition held that the tiger, a native of Asia, gave his name to theTigris river. Although this mosaic formed part of a pavement in an Early Christian church, any eventual religious significance of the animals remains obscure, and may not have been intended.

AMICA ID: MIA_.69.49.2
Component Measured: overall
Measurement Unit: in
AMICA Library Year: 2001
Media Metadata Rights: ?The Minneapolis Institute of Arts

AMICA PUBLIC RIGHTS: a) Access to the materials is granted for personal and non-commercial use. b) A full educational license for non-commercial use is available from Cartography Associates at www.davidrumsey.com/amica/institution_subscribe.html c) Licensed users may continue their examination of additional materials provided by Cartography Associates, and d) commercial rights are available from the rights holder.