Fragment of a Floor Mosaic with a Personification of Ktisis

Fragment of a Floor Mosaic with a Personification of Ktisis

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The bejeweled woman, holding the measuring tool for the Roman foot, is identified by the restored Greek inscription as Ktisis, a figure personifying the act of generous donation or foundation. The man with a cornucopia, originally one of a pair flanking her, has the Greek inscription “good” by his head, half of a text that probably said, “good wishes.” The fragment, made of marble and glass tesserae (small pieces of colored material), is typical of the exceptional mosaics created throughout the Byzantine world in the 500s. The Metropolitan Museum, after acquiring the two figures independently, has restored them in accordance with a dealer’s photograph showing their original arrangement while in storage before separation.

Medieval Art and The Cloisters

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Fragment of a Floor Mosaic with a Personification of KtisisFragment of a Floor Mosaic with a Personification of KtisisFragment of a Floor Mosaic with a Personification of KtisisFragment of a Floor Mosaic with a Personification of KtisisFragment of a Floor Mosaic with a Personification of Ktisis

The Museum's collection of medieval and Byzantine art is among the most comprehensive in the world. Displayed in both The Met Fifth Avenue and in the Museum's branch in northern Manhattan, The Met Cloisters, the collection encompasses the art of the Mediterranean and Europe from the fall of Rome in the fourth century to the beginning of the Renaissance in the early sixteenth century. It also includes pre-medieval European works of art created during the Bronze Age and early Iron Age.