K. Palágyi Sylvia szerk.: Balácai Közlemények 2008/10. (Veszprém, 2008)
KIRCHHOF, ANITA: The decorative system and reconstruction of the red dining room at Baláca - A balácai vörös ebédlő dekorációs rendszere és rekonstrukciója
another animal or of a plant in front of it. 117 Both the scenes themselves and their elaboration are so similar that we suppose that they were made by using the same patternbooks or maybe itinerant artists worked in the inner part of Pannónia and in the southern part of Noricum at the end of the 1 st century A.D. -at the beginning of the 2 nd century A.D. A pedestal decoration found in Trier was composed by using a similar motifs. It represents escaping deer together with tree, on a red background, a lynx and a bear on a yellowish brown background, a leopard on a white background, a swimming otter on a light blue background, marsh-plant, egret, dolphin and sea horse on a black background. 118 A wall-painting found in the Military Town of Aquincum, in the Kiscelli street, displays a scene of large felines running among trees. 119 Its elaboration is very similar to that of the Trier one. A scene of animals running leftward among smaller bushes on a pedestal is known also from Limoges. 120 A painting on a vaulted ceiling in Nida represents escaping deer and panther while on the 4,5-5 cm wide frieze with red background in the lateral wall displays a marine scene, winged horses and scenes with several Eros and birds. 121 In Pompeii hunting scenes occur on wall-paintings, friezes, pedestals and predella as well. 122 Below the stucco ledge of the frigidarium of the Forumthermae in Pompeii runs a similar frieze with red background which represents a chariot driving scene. 123 On a frieze with blue background on the unfinished wall of the House of the lliadic Shrine several scenes with opposite direction can be observed. 124 On the Centaur frieze, too, in the House of Menander in Pompeii the division of the picture field was made with the aid of plant motif. 125 The hunting scene was a favourite topic of Roman fine arts. It appearaed frequrently not only on wall-paintings but also on mosaics, 126 stone monuments, 127 silver table sets, 128 bronze, 129 glass, 130 and ceramic 131 vessels, or on lamp. 132 Usually land scenes were represented with escaping animals in picture fields separated from each other by trees. On a mosaic with hunting scene found in the villa at Piazza Armerina the killed wild boar is carried in in a way similar to the one depicted at Baláca. 133 The representation which can be most closely connected with the scenes painted in the picture field of red background at Baláca is known from a mosaic found at Lillebonne r Rouen. 134 Within its border there is a hunting scene in four picture fields. The chase of the game, its capture, carrying home and the scene of a sacrifice offered for Diana can be seen in these pictures. A mosaic found in the triclinium of a Roman villa at Cisterna (Très Tabernae) from the 2 nd century A.D. has an embléma in which the following scene can be seen: the hunters fasten a deer killed in the forest to a donkey and at the top of the picture field there is a picnic held after the successful hunt. 135 Representations of athletes and contestants, prize-fighters occur usually on mosaic floors in palaestrascenes, m they are less frequent on wall-paintings and if they appear there they occur rather only in a frieze-like composition. Contest scenes and the representation of a balsamarium in the form of a human head put on the top of a four-sided table, similar to the one at Baláca is known from Tusculum. 137 Marsh-scenes occur more rarely on paintings. Water-fowls occur first of all on the mosaics of baths connected with some aquatic environment 138 or on miniature pictures of landscape scenes. 139 An exception is the turn of the l s,-2 nd centuries A.D. when the pedestal zones of the wall-paintings were frequently decorated with the alternating representations of water-fowls and of a marsh vegetation all over the Empire. 140 The representations of marine monsters with horse-head (hypocampus), with griffin-, panther-, bull- or goat-heads and coiling like
