Xenia motif
The xenia motif in Roman mosaic is a still life motif consisting of a grouping of various items, mostly edible, representing a generous offering (a xenia) from a wealthy host to his guests.
Typical elements of a xenia motif include game hanging from hooks, fish, baskets of fruit (often overturned), and the like. Vitruvius lists specifically "poultry, eggs, vegetables, and other country produce".[1]
Xenia motifs are typically found in reception rooms.
The word xenia is Greek, and means 'hospitality'; in Latin, it came to mean presents for guests, and later presents in general. It also came to include a class of epigrammatic inscription attached to the presents, xenia epigrams.
Notes
References
- Katherine M.D. Dunbabin, Mosaics of the Greek and Roman World, Cambridge: 1999.
- Stella Grobel Miller, "A Mosaic floor from a Roman villa at Anaploga", Hesperia 41:3:332 (July 1972).