SDO10190 - 'The Roman Tessellated Pavement' Dorset County Chronicle

"THE ROMAN TESSELATED PAVEMENT. Some time ago we noticed the discovery of the tessellated pavement of a Roman Villa Urbana, or Town Dwelling, on the site of Dorchester Castle, a spot which has proved extremely fertile in its relics of these Conquerors of the Earth. The present example of a perfect tessellated pavement, it may be remembered, was laid bare in the first attempt to dig the grave of James Seal, the criminal lately executed for murder and arson, whose remains have now, however, been interred in another corner of the prison cemetery. But two years previously a portion of the outer border of the same pavement had been disclosed in digging in like manner the grave of Martha Brown, the previous sufferer of the last penalty of the law. The beautiful pavement now in the Dorset County Museum, had prior to that, been exhumed in the same vicinity, viz., in digging the foundation for the prison workshops at North Square. Another pavement, of a meaner description, was also found in digging the foundations of the cottages occupied by the Warders outside the gaol enclosure; and it is known that at least two other Roman pavements exist, extending into the neighbouring gardens on the South of the Castle Yard. By a careful examination of the lately discovered example in situ it has been recovered as nearly as possible in its integrity; and has been most appropriately relaid in the chapel of the Castle, within the Communion rails, where the Governor, Mr. Lawrence, has succeeded in effecting a restoration of this very striking mosaic, complete in every detail, and when polished up, as it will doubtless be, as brilliant as when it was first elaborated. Through the courtesy of the Governor we were enabled to inspect the work, not only as relaid, but to examine minutely the position in which it was found, and which still remains well defined from the plain outer borderings of red grey and white tesserae being left untouched. The site, in fact, becomes on inspection most interesting. From the remains of the herring-boned stone slabs or shingles, which had formed the ponderous roofing of the original building, drilled with holes for fixing them so as to overlap like common slates (for they had fallen in and were found upon the ornamental), we are left to conjecture that strong support must have been required by the structure. Accordingly, at the N.E. and S.E. angles of the pavement are found two corresponding depressions, as if the strong pillars of the tenement had rested there, sustaining on Atlantean shoulders the mighty superintendent load. Intermediate to the two depressions just noticed, in the centre of the eastern side of the square, a most notable curve occurs where the tessellated pavement rises upwards and outwards to form one of the most sacred spots of Roman domesticity – the threshold. Here libations, sacrifices, and ceremonies of all kinds were performed on occasion of births, deaths, and marriages – especially on the deductio domi, or home heading of the bride, who, in commemoration of the rape of the Sabines, was forced across the threshold. We would counsel the retention of this threshold as it is, for we question another example of this particular part of these Roman structures may be anywhere else to be seen. The foundation on which the tessellated pavement had been laid was , of course, a bed of concrete, and below that flints again. The object had been to exclude damp, for it was found that underneath all these the site was rather moist, and in the undrained unimproved Roman period it must have been a perfect swamp. The entire dimensions of this pavement may have been about 20ft square. The square formed by the last or outer ornament, described below as “lock-jawed teeth”, or rayed ornament, is 10ft 5in so that the plain bordering will be seen to be of considerable breadth. The square described by the magnificent chequered ornament is 6ft 11in,; that by the large outer square, 4ft 9in; by the smaller inner square, 3ft 2in; by the octagonal ornament, 2ft 21/2in; by the outer circle, 1ft 11in; and by the inner, 16in. THuse, in the Roman edifice, this pavement must have formed the square flooring of, probably, a public apartment, extending at least 20ft every way, perhaps more. The intricacies of the pattern are all, however, central, and consequently entire, although the outer edge of the pavement should be partially lost – for the outer stripes are of enlarged breadth and proportions as the squares extend. In the very centre of the composition there is a small lozenge of black enclosed in one of red or orange. This duplex figure is phlanged by two well shaped hearts, the points of which are directed due north and south, having black, white, gray and red outlines in succession, fill in appropriately with the red and encircled by a ring of black, the interstices […] with them and this circle being filled one half with white, one half with gray parti-colour-wise, and giving an appearance of shading. The outer irm of the circle now shoots forth bold gray rays forming a brilliant star. These rays repose upon bright red, bordered by another ring or circle of black, externally to which runs an octagon of bold black lines, whose interspaces are occupied with gray. Broad octagonal stripes next succeed in red, blue, and white respectively. And now two great black squares are laid transversely one over the other so as to leave eight projecting angles in stellar form, giving in fact a clue to the mathematical diagram on which the whole design is based, for it will be afterwards seem that two larger squares may be said to have been overlaid in like manner one upon the other, only the angles of one have been cut off and bars drawn within the angles of the other so as to constitute it an octagon. The combination of circle and square into the octagon, and the natural and progressive extension of one sort of figure beyond the boundary of the other – of the heart beyond the lozenge, the octagon beyond the circle, the square beyond the octagon – disclose the system of harmonic proportions in the design. But, to proceed – as tangents to the angular points of that square, which seems to be superimposed on the other, next appear the four sides of a larger square of black. Numerous interspaces and angularities are necessarily inclosed by the square. They are multiplied farther by black bars drawn across as tangents to the angular points of the other inner square. And all three lozenge and triangularly shaped figures are laid off so as to present a beautiful balance of the four prevailing colours – black, red, white and gray. Outside this greater square, however, succeeds a broad and beautiful quadripartite border of chequers, of red, white, gray and black alternately – balanced so as to indicate to the eye the happiest possible decision and symmetry. These chequers are finally environed by a very decided interlacing pattern of flattened chainwork, exhibiting the double chromatic series in links composed of all the four colours, repeated. A plain border comes next of broad red, gray and white stripes. It is succeeded by another of red rayed outwards, met by or lock-jawed into one of the blue rayed inwards. The outer borders, as far as traceable, are first red of great breadth, grey of lesser width, white of same breadth as the red; but beyond these still the tessellation goes on in red and white again. Whilst describing this fine pavement, which will no doubt long remain where it is now laid down a monument of pride and power long passed away from the very spot it continues to decorate, we cannot help noticing that Mr. John Pouncy, of this town, has succeeded in producing wonderful fac similes of this interesting relic in photography and colour. Now it may be recollected that a discovery of this artist has been making some noise in the world; and we are happy in being able to adduce from this very instance a remarkable illustration of its value, as compared with ordinary photography. Mr. Pouncey has taken perfect photographs by each process, coloured them with all the care imaginable(we had detected a slight error, but easily rectified), and in each style we thus possess an exact minature of the pavement, where each particular tesserum stands articulately on end, the exact outline of its rugged edge, sharply definite to the eye, although there are some hundreds, perhaps thousands, of them in the mosaic composition. Of course the figures into which these little square dies are arranged are still more definitely pronounced. But the difference in clearness and in beauty betwixt the finest attainable ordinary photographic products and those of Mr. Pouncy’s process of carbon printing, could not well be more surprising. The common photograph, do what you will, gives a greasy […py] tone to the colour: the whites are not whites, the reds are dull, and there is, in fact, a rich but hazy obscuration of the whole picture. But by the carbon process everything is so clear that the colour simply washed over retains its purity of expression. This is not all; time will fast obliterate the traces of the common photograph. In a few years nothing but ghostly traces of the colouring will be left, the photography underneath will have all but vanished. Not so with the carbon printing. It is imperishable, and in pitn of fact what we have here is a fac simile of the Roman pavement – a miniature, no doubt, and a pictorial representation – but a picute as indestructible as the handiwork of the ancient Romans itself. Surely it is worth while taking up Mr. Pouncy’s discovery as a means of preserving such memorials."