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Source Description
Despite its rectangular shape and creation from mostly square tesserae, this mosaic incorporates many curves in its composition, particularly for the tails of the tigers. With one cub on her back and two before her, the mother tiger reaches out with one paw and an open mouth, whether to scold or to play. Unlike lions, leopards, and bears, tigers appear relatively rarely in Roman art, with the tigress seen more frequently than her male counterpart.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
153768
label
Mosaic of Tigress and Cubs
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
153768
contentType
object
title
Mosaic of Tigress and Cubs
description
Despite its rectangular shape and creation from mostly square tesserae, this mosaic incorporates many curves in its composition, particularly for the tails of the tigers. With one cub on her back and two before her, the mother tiger reaches out with one paw and an open mouth, whether to scold or to play. Unlike lions, leopards, and bears, tigers appear relatively rarely in Roman art, with the tigress seen more frequently than her male counterpart.
date
300s CE
citation
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
Mosaic
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Overall: 142.9 x 135.4 cm (56 1/4 x 53 5/16 in.)
cul
Eastern Roman Empire
accession
1987.65
Source extras
tec
tesserae
tombstone
Mosaic of Tigress and Cubs, 300s CE. Eastern Roman Empire. Tesserae; overall: 142.9 x 135.4 cm (56 1/4 x 53 5/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund, 1987.65
collection
GR - Roman
didYouKnow
This mosaic includes over ten thousand tesserae, or small cut-stone tiles.
citations
citation
Turner, Evan H. "The Year in Review for 1987." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 75, no. 2 (1988): 30-71.
page_number
Listed, p. 65, no. 8.
citation
Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art.</em> Cleveland, Ohio: The Museum, 1991.
page_number
Ill. p. 16 (Byzantium).
citation
Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Motherhood across Time</em>. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2021.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: p. 2
creditline
John L. Severance Fund
galleryDonorText
David and Inez Myers Foundation Gallery
updatedAt
2026-05-29 07:57:02.373000
sourceId
153768
dept
Greek and Roman Art
coll
GR - Roman
med
tesserae
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
53efa65f5aac5c82