Roman mosaic showing mice eating a nut. Object located in Vatican Museum. Dated back to reign of Hadrian (117-138 CE).
The mosaic was made with an extremely arduous and precise method opus vermiculatum. Artists creating a mosaic arranged very small and closely stacked tesserae to show the correct colors and contours. In this work of art, we also see that the artist managed to introduce shading, which gives a beautiful effect of realism.
