A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly popular in the Ancient Roman world.
Tepidarium of Dar Zmela house
(Museo Nacional de Antropología (México))
From Pompeii, Casa di Orfeo National Archaeological Museum, Naples
Stag Hunt Mosaic from the House of the Abduction of Helen at Pella, ancient Macedonia, late 4th century BC
Islamic art is a part of Islamic culture and encompasses the visual arts produced since the 7th century CE by people who lived within territories inhabited or ruled by Muslim populations. Referring to characteristic traditions across a wide range of lands, periods, and genres, Islamic art is a concept used first by Western art historians in the late 19th century. Public Islamic art is traditionally non-representational, except for the widespread use of plant forms, usually in varieties of the spiralling arabesque. These are often combined with Islamic calligraphy, geometric patterns in styles that are typically found in a wide variety of media, from small objects in ceramic or metalwork to large decorative schemes in tiling on the outside and inside of large buildings, including mosques. Other forms of Islamic art include Islamic miniature painting, artefacts like Islamic glass or pottery, and textile arts, such as carpets and embroidery.
Detail of arabesque decoration at the Alhambra in Spain
The Ardabil Carpet, probably the finest surviving Persian carpet, Tabriz, mid-16th century
Hunters at a Stream - Riza `Abbasi, c. 1625 Brooklyn Museum
Tiles with some calligraphy in the courtyard of the Süleymaniye Mosque in Istanbul (Turkey)