Editing Roman art (section)

==Decorative arts==
[[File:Cameo August BM Gem3577.jpg|thumb|upright|The [[Blacas Cameo]] of [[Augustus]], from his last years or soon after]]

===Pottery and terracottas===
{{main|Ancient Roman pottery|Campana relief}}
The Romans inherited a tradition of art in a wide range of the so-called "minor arts" or [[decorative art]]. Most of these flourished most impressively at the luxury level, but large numbers of [[terracotta]] figurines, both religious and secular, continued to be produced cheaply, as well as some larger [[Campana relief]]s in terracotta.<ref>Henig, 191-199</ref>  Roman art did not use vase-painting in the way of the ancient Greeks, but vessels in [[Ancient Roman pottery]] were often stylishly decorated in moulded relief.<ref>Henig, 179-187</ref>  Producers of the millions of small [[oil lamp]]s sold seem to have relied on attractive decoration to beat competitors and every subject of Roman art except landscape and portraiture is found on them in miniature.<ref>Henig, 200-204</ref>

===Glass===
{{main|Roman glass}}
[[File:RomanglassMET.jpg|thumb|Various [[Roman glass]]wares on display at the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]]]]
Luxury arts included fancy Roman glass in a great range of techniques, many smaller types of which were probably affordable to a good proportion of the Roman public. This was certainly not the case for the most extravagant types of glass, such as the [[cage cup]]s or ''diatreta'', of which the [[Lycurgus Cup]] in the [[British Museum]] is a near-unique figurative example in glass that changes colour when seen with light passing through it. The Augustan [[Portland Vase]] is the masterpiece of Roman [[cameo glass]],<ref>Henig, 215-218</ref> and imitated the style of the large [[engraved gem]]s ([[Blacas Cameo]], [[Gemma Augustea]], [[Great Cameo of France]]) and other [[hardstone carving]]s that were also most popular around this time.<ref>Henig, 152-158</ref>

===Mosaic===
{{main|Roman mosaic}}
[[File:Bikini mosaic.jpg|thumb|[[Roman mosaic]] of female athletes playing ball at the [[Villa Romana del Casale]] of [[Piazza Armerina]], [[Roman Sicily]], 4th century AD]]

Roman mosaic was a minor art, though often on a very large scale, until the very end of the period, when late-4th-century Christians began to use it for large religious images on walls in their new large churches; in earlier Roman art mosaic was mainly used for floors, curved ceilings, and inside and outside walls that were going to get wet.  The famous copy of a Hellenistic painting in the ''[[Alexander Mosaic]]'' in Naples was originally placed in a floor in [[Pompeii]]; this is much higher quality work than most Roman mosaic, though very fine panels, often of [[still life]] subjects in small or [[micromosaic]] [[tesserae]] have also survived.  The Romans distinguished between normal ''[[opus tessellatum]]'' with ''tesserae'' mostly over 4&nbsp;mm across, which was laid down on site, and finer ''[[opus vermiculatum]]'' for small panels, which is thought to have been produced offsite in a workshop, and brought to the site as a finished panel.  The latter was a Hellenistic genre which is found in Italy between about 100 BC and 100 AD.  Most signed mosaics have Greek names, suggesting the artists remained mostly Greek, though probably often slaves trained up in workshops.  The late 2nd century BC [[Nile mosaic of Palestrina]] is a very large example of the popular genre of [[Nilotic landscape]], while the 4th century [[Gladiator Mosaic]] in Rome shows several large figures in combat.<ref>Henig, 116-138</ref>  [[Orpheus mosaic]]s, often very large, were another favourite subject for villas, with several ferocious animals tamed by [[Orpheus]]'s playing music. In the transition to Byzantine art, hunting scenes tended to take over large animal scenes.

===Metalwork===
Metalwork was highly developed, and clearly an essential part of the homes of the rich, who dined off silver, while often drinking from glass, and had elaborate cast fittings on their furniture, jewellery, and small figurines.  A number of important [[hoard]]s found in the last 200 years, mostly from the more violent edges of the late empire, have given us a much clearer idea of Roman silver plate.  The [[Mildenhall Treasure]] and [[Hoxne Hoard]] are both from [[East Anglia]] in England.<ref>Henig, 140-150; jewellery, 158-160</ref>  There are few survivals of upmarket [[ancient Roman furniture]], but these show refined and elegant design and execution.

===Coins and medals===
{{Unreferenced section|date=September 2023}}
[[File:HADRIANUS RIC II 938-789065.jpg|thumb|left|[[Hadrian]], with "RESTITVTORI ACHAIAE" on the reverse, celebrating his spending in [[Achaia (Roman province)|Achaia]] (Greece), and showing the quality of ordinary bronze coins that were used by the mass population, hence the wear on higher areas.]]
Few [[Roman currency|Roman coins]] reach the artistic peaks of the best Greek coins, but they survive in vast numbers and their iconography and inscriptions form a crucial source for the study of Roman history, and the development of imperial iconography, as well as containing many fine examples of portraiture. They penetrated to the rural population of the whole Empire and beyond, with barbarians on the fringes of the Empire making their own copies.  In the Empire medallions in precious metals began to be produced in small editions as imperial gifts, which are similar to coins, though larger and usually finer in execution.  Images in coins initially followed Greek styles, with gods and symbols, but in the death throes of the Republic first [[Pompey]] and then [[Julius Caesar]] appeared on coins, and portraits of the emperor or members of his family became standard on imperial coinage.  The inscriptions were used for propaganda, and in the later Empire the army joined the emperor as the beneficiary.