Opus Sectile

A Roman construction technique using thin pieces marble of different colors in geometric, floral, or figured designs as part of floors or wall surfaces. Latin for "sectioned work" this technical term was used by Vitruvius c 30 BC. Shell or mother-of-pearl was sometimes used instead of marble. Opus sectile began in the Hellenistic world perhaps first in Italy and continued as a European decorative tradition. Opus sectile first appeared in Rome in Republican times as pavement in simple geometrical and floral designs. From the 1st century AD there was also a regular production of small pictures of the opus sectile type. The technique was most popular in Rome c 200 BC-400 AD. Geometrical opus sectile continued to be the major form of floor decoration in Italian churches throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance.

[Latin: ‘sectioned work’]. Technical term used by Vitruvius (Roman architectural writer, c30 bc) of a decorative type of floor or wall surface. In a ‘mosaic’ made up of relatively large segments, geometric, floral and figured designs are made up from specially cut, thin pieces of coloured marble. The technique is found over the period roughly c200 bc-400 AD.