Mosaic

This article is about a decorative art. See Mosaic (disambiguation) for other meanings.

A small part of The Great Pavement at Woodchester, Gloucestershire, England. The 48 ft by 48 ft (15 m by 15 m) Roman mosaic uses 1.5 million 0.5 inch (12 mm) square pieces of stone. Once the floor of a Roman villa, it was laid around AD 325.

A mosaic is a form of decorative art, in which small tiles or fragments of pottery (known as tesserae, diminutive tessellae) are used to create a pattern or picture.

It was used in ancient times for domestic interior decoration. Mosaics are particularly associated with Roman dwellings, for example on floors; but the craft has continued through the ages, and many modern examples exist. M.C. Escher was influenced by Moorish mosaics to begin is investigations into tessellation.

There are 2 main methods of creating mosaics. They are commonly referred to as the direct method of mosaic construction and the indirect method of mosaic construction.

"Tilings" can lead to complicated mathematical problems; please refer to tiling and tesselation for details. A renowned mathematician who has recently associated himself with tiling problems is Roger Penrose, namesake of "Penrose tilings".