Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Genesis sculpture

John Robinson's Genesis sculpture is placed at the Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences, Cambridge, U.K. It has three rhombuses. and forms  a three-dimensional hexagram. The sculpture belongs to Robinson's Universe Series, which he began in 1975.

Keynsham, England

Dr . Steve Cosh referred me to six large hexagrams that had been found in room J/K Keynsham, Bristol, England. I went to the Rockefeller Museum library and saw on MOSAIC Vo. 25, 1998 p. 12 a painting of this mosaic, made by S.R. Cosh, The hexagram lines are made in the shape of Guilloche. Between each two points there is a swastika. Above the left upper hexagram there’s a cross. The six hexagrams fill the floor of a hexagonal room and encircle a hexagon that serves as a frame for a six petalled flower. This kind of a hexagram mosaic that fills a whole room reminds me of the 3rd century Roman room full of hexagrams in Villa Romana del Casale in the town of Piazza Armerina in Sicily; only there each hexagram is a frame to a bust.

Following is an excerpt from Dr. Steve Cash’s email to me:

There are many interlaced squares in Romano-British mosaics but very few interlaced equilateral triangles(hexagrams). The only ones I can cite are from Keynsham, Bristol, England. It is a grand villa with rooms of hexagonal plan at either end. One has a scheme of hexagons, six of which surrounding the central hexagon contain hexagrams. I assume that this is because of the shape of the room and the usual interlaced squares have been adapted on a purely geometric basis. The mosaic also features Medusa and is probably early fourth century.
Reference:
Mosaic no II, 204.5 in Cosh SR and Neal DS 'Roman Mosaics of Britain
Vol II South-west Britain' 2005.

Balaca, Hungary

There are two 2nd century hexagrams in the mosaic pavement that had been excavated in room no. 20 in Balaca, Hungary. They show on the middle row among many other symbols and shapes. the mosaic pavement is part of a building that belonged to a family that moved from Italy and wished to have the same conditions as they had there.

The first artifacts of this former Roman villa farmstead which is unique in Central Europe were discovered in the early 20th century. Work continues to this day and relics found include particularly beautiful mosaics similar to those found in Pompeii…the mosaic of the exhibition room number 20 was transferred to the Hungarian National Museum in 1925. However the other unique large-scale mosaic tiling in room 31 remains on site.
Source: vendegvaro.hu/