I'm thinking along the same basic lines as Susan and Nicole and Maggie: southern/Mediterranean Europe, or possibly Eastern Europe/Western Asia (in which case it might be northerly than I'm thinking). Somewhere that Greek influence penetrated, though, to judge by the letters under the bearded fellow. But they also encountered Asians -- Mongols? -- at some point, and portrayed them in the mosaic. Neither of those narrows things down a great deal. And the hammered plate strikes me as a more (middle-) eastern sort of thing (my father worked on that area of the world, and we had some modern versions of such artifacts around the house). Representational art and no Arabic script, at least in these pictures, probably argues for a non-Islamic culture, and possibly a more-Westward (from the American perspective) location.
In short, I'm pretty sure you weren't in southern Africa, South America, or Antarctica (unless you were in a museum in one of the first two, which is why I'm also not ruling out North America; there aren't any landscape shots).
I am terrible at guessing locations! But I'll lead off with the vaguest of guesses: somewhere cool in Western Europe.
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ReplyDeleteNo idea where you were, but it looks lovely.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking along the same basic lines as Susan and Nicole and Maggie: southern/Mediterranean Europe, or possibly Eastern Europe/Western Asia (in which case it might be northerly than I'm thinking). Somewhere that Greek influence penetrated, though, to judge by the letters under the bearded fellow. But they also encountered Asians -- Mongols? -- at some point, and portrayed them in the mosaic. Neither of those narrows things down a great deal. And the hammered plate strikes me as a more (middle-) eastern sort of thing (my father worked on that area of the world, and we had some modern versions of such artifacts around the house). Representational art and no Arabic script, at least in these pictures, probably argues for a non-Islamic culture, and possibly a more-Westward (from the American perspective) location.
ReplyDeleteIn short, I'm pretty sure you weren't in southern Africa, South America, or Antarctica (unless you were in a museum in one of the first two, which is why I'm also not ruling out North America; there aren't any landscape shots).
(#2 had been thinking, the Getty, but likes the other suggestions better, not that she has anything against the Getty)
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