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"Abaciscus" redirects here. For the geometer moth
Geometer moth

The geometer moths or Geometridae are a family of the order Lepidoptera. A very large family, it has around 26,000 species of moths described ....
 genus
Genus

A genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The taxonomic ranks are domain , kingdom , phylum, class , order , family , genus, and species....
, see Abaciscus (moth).
"Tessella" redirects here. For the moth
Moth

A moth is an insect closely related to the butterfly, both being of the Order Lepidoptera. The differences between butterflies and moths are more than just taxonomy....
 genus, see Tessella (moth)
Tessella (moth)

Tessella is a genus of moth in the family Arctiidae.Reference...
.


Tessera has different meanings in different contexts.
b>tessera (plural: tesserae, diminutive tessella) is an individual tile in a mosaic
Mosaic

Mosaic is the art of creating images with an assemblage of small pieces of colored glass, stone, or other material. It may be a technique of Decorative arts, an aspect of interior decoration or of cultural and spiritual significance as in a cathedral....
, usually formed in the shape of a cube. It is also known as an abaciscus, abaculus, or, in Persian ???? ????.






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"Abaciscus" redirects here. For the geometer moth
Geometer moth

The geometer moths or Geometridae are a family of the order Lepidoptera. A very large family, it has around 26,000 species of moths described ....
 genus
Genus

A genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The taxonomic ranks are domain , kingdom , phylum, class , order , family , genus, and species....
, see Abaciscus (moth).
"Tessella" redirects here. For the moth
Moth

A moth is an insect closely related to the butterfly, both being of the Order Lepidoptera. The differences between butterflies and moths are more than just taxonomy....
 genus, see Tessella (moth)
Tessella (moth)

Tessella is a genus of moth in the family Arctiidae.Reference...
.


Tessera has different meanings in different contexts.

Art

A tessera (plural: tesserae, diminutive tessella) is an individual tile in a mosaic
Mosaic

Mosaic is the art of creating images with an assemblage of small pieces of colored glass, stone, or other material. It may be a technique of Decorative arts, an aspect of interior decoration or of cultural and spiritual significance as in a cathedral....
, usually formed in the shape of a cube. It is also known as an abaciscus, abaculus, or, in Persian ???? ????. In antiquity, mosaics were formed from naturally colored pebble
Pebble

A pebble is a clastic rocks of rock with a particle size of 4 to 64 millimeters based on the Krumbein phi scale of sedimentology. It is generally considered to be larger than gravel and smaller than cobble....
s, but by 200 BCE
3rd century BC

The 3rd century BC started the first day of 300 BC and ended the last day of 201 BC. It is considered part of the Classical era, epoch, or historical period....
 purpose-made tesserae were being used. Marble
Marble

Marble is a nonfoliated metamorphic rock resulting from the metamorphism of limestone, composed mostly of calcite . It is extensively used for Marble sculpture, as a architecture material, and in many other applications....
 or limestone
Limestone

File:Limestone Formation In Waitomo.jpgLimestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the mineral calcite . The deposition of limestone strata is often a by-product and indicator of biological activity in the geology record....
 was cut into small cubes that were arranged into the design. Later, tesserae were made from colored glass, or clear glass backed with metal foils. The Byzantines used tesserae with gold leaf, in which case the glass pieces were flatter, with two glass pieces sandwiching the gold. This produced a golden reflection emanating from in between the tesserae as well as their front, causing a far richer and more luminous effect.

Mathematics

Tessera stands for the curvilinial parallelogram.

Contemporary types


  • Vitreous Glass: These are manufactured glass tiles made to a uniform shape and size. They are made by molten glass being poured into trays and fired. An imprint of grooves is made on their underside for help with adhesion to cement when fixing.
  • Ceramic Tesserae: These are the cheapest range of bought materials and can be glazed or unglazed. The glazed ceramic tiles have the colour painted onto the top of the clay and then fired to a high temperature in a kiln. The unglazed or body glazed version has the coloured mixed into the wet clay so the colour runs through them. They vary in size.
  • Smalti: This is the classic mosaic material. It is opaque glass fired in large slabs in a kiln and then hand cut with a hammer and hardy(chisel) into small cubes. Their irregular finish makes them a wonderful reflector of light and this material is best used working straight into cement. It is produced in Venice and sold by colour and weight.
  • Gold Smalti: This tile is made with real gold and silver leaf sandwiched between two layers of glass and fired twice in the kiln to embed in the metal.
  • Mirror
    Mirror

    A mirror is an object with one surface polished, which leads to reflection and another opaque. The most familiar type of mirror is the plane mirror, which has a flat surface....
    : Mirror adds great depth and sparkle to a mosaic. It is cheap as offcuts from a glass cutting shop are often free. Use mirror glue as this protects the silver on the back of the mirror.
  • Stained Glass
    Stained glass

    For the Blackford Oakes novel, see Stained Glass The term stained glass can refer to the material of coloured glass or the craft of working with it....
    : Known for its translucent qualities stained glass is also available in opaque form. It comes as large sheets that can be cut into smaller sections with a glasscutter. It can provide areas of larger tesserae pieces for variety and contrast.
  • Household Ceramic Tiles & China: Colours and surfaces are limitless and can add wonderful texture and contrast to mosaic work.


Commerce

Aureus Macrinus Ric 0079
Another kind of tessera was the ancient Roman
Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC....
 equivalent of a theater ticket. Stamped into a clay shard was an entrance aisle and row number for spectators attending an event at an amphitheater or arena. Above the doors of the Colosseum
Colosseum

The Colosseum or Roman Coliseum, originally the Flavian Amphitheatre , is an elliptical amphitheatre in the center of the city of Rome, Italy, the largest ever built in the Roman Empire....
 in Rome are numbers corresponding to those stamped into a spectator's tessera.

Venusian geography

Tessera is a "complex ridged" surface feature seen on Venus
Venus

Venus is the second-closest planet to the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. The planet is named after Venus , the Roman mythology goddess of love....
ian plateau highlands (and maybe on Neptune's
NEPTUNE

=Overview=The project, along with sister project, VENUS, offers a unique approach to ocean science. Traditionally, ocean scientists have relied on infrequent ship cruises or space-based satellites to carry out their research....
 moon Triton
Tritón

Trit?n is a Mexico magazine dedicated to news, books and information on swimming, diving and water polo....
). Tessera is thought to be caused by crustal folding, buckling, and breaking. The presence of tessera on Venus suggests that the Venusian surface may be subject to piecewise lateral motions.

See also

  • Mosaic
    Mosaic

    Mosaic is the art of creating images with an assemblage of small pieces of colored glass, stone, or other material. It may be a technique of Decorative arts, an aspect of interior decoration or of cultural and spiritual significance as in a cathedral....
     (describes techniques for assembling tesserae into a design)
  • Tessellation
    Tessellation

    A tessellation or tiling of the plane is a collection of plane figures that fills the plane with no overlaps and no gaps. One may also speak of tessellations of the parts of the plane or of other surfaces....
     (describes tessellation patterns)


External links

  • The art galerie
  • (Venusian tessera)