2-735-864 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Nereid (Sea-Nymph) from a Hanging, late 300s - 400s. This tapestry is renowned for the large sea-nymph, or nereid, woven with bright colours. The mythological nereid, composed of a naked female torso descending into a fish, holds a coloured glass bowl. Only costly jewelry with large emeralds, sapphires, and pearls, a loosely draped shawl, and a brilliant halo adorn her. A vine of leaves and grapes inhabited by birds forms the border. The refined quality is not diminished by the permanent brown blemishes, identified as dormant mold spores, which were present when the tapestry was acquired in 1953.