Double-Headed Serpent
Aztec (Mexico)
15th-16th century AD
The British Museum, London, England, UK
Pieces of turquoise, conch shell, and crab shell create the mosaic exterior of this double-headed serpent on a wooden base. Measuring at 17 inches by 8 inches, it has been surmised that the sculpture was given to Hernan Cortés by Moctezuma II after his arrival at Tenochtitlan in 1519.
Two angels with labarum and orbs
Mosaic
8-9th century CE
From the church of the Koimesis/Dormition at Iznik (Nicaea), Turkey. Church destroyed in 1922.
Nativity
Mosaic
1143
Church of the Martorana, Palermo, Siciliy.
Seraphim
Mosaic
c. 14th century
Uncovered in the pendentives of Hagia Sophia in 2009.
The Crucifixion
Mosaic
ca. 1100
In the church of Hosios Loukas, in the Daphni Monastery, Chaidari, Greece.
Saint Lawrence
Mosaic
Circa 5th-century CE
In the mausoleum of Galla Placidia, Ravenna.
St. Lawrence was an early Christian martyr of Rome, who while being tortured on a grill told his tormentors to “turn me over, I’m not quite done.”
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