This interesting little book examines the roles played by decoration – primarily geometric and abstract ornament – in three categories of Roman art: mosaic pavements, vessels and dress accessories. All three relate, in their various ways, to social display; and it is the author’s aim to show in each case how the forms of decoration chosen are appropriate to their function, whether simply by fitting the shape and context of the decorated item or, more specifically, by expressing the owner or wearer’s status.

In the course of the enquiry many valuable observations emerge. The author is particularly good on silver plate and late antique jewellery – fields on which she has written extensively elsewhere. She is to be commended, inter alia, for her pragmatic approach to ornament, which has often previously been interpreted in mystical or symbolic terms: fish represented on plates are thus more likely to have referred to their role in a dinner service than to have had a Christian significance. There are also excellent passages on the apotropaic and talismanic associations of jewellery, and on the ways in which women’s dress ornaments refer to ideals of feminine beauty. In the last chapter, two pages on changing attitudes to Roman art, from the late nineteenth century to the present, constitute one of the neatest summaries of the historiography of the subject known to the reviewer. Amid so much that is admirable, it is a pity that the ideas are not always expressed in the most accessible language: the reader may struggle when confronted with concepts such as the ‘ontological function’ of decoration (p 8) or a marriage ring that ‘can be viewed as a prosthesis whose psychological significance extends far beyond that of a mere object’ (p 154). It is a pity, too, that basic spelling mistakes, such as ‘Pompeiian’ (for Pompeian) and ‘Dionysius’ (for Dionysus), are repeated throughout the text.

Less satisfactory than the passages on vessels and dress accessories are those on mosaics. Here some of the generalizations are highly debatable. A basic thesis of the book is that the mosaics of the later imperial period give increasing prominence to non-figural – particularly geometric – decoration, and that the complexity of the geometric patterns, which ‘offer much less possibility of comprehension’ than figurative motifs do, reinforce social relations of power and dominance. But, in the western Empire at least (the geographical area with which Swift is chiefly concerned), geometric patterns, often quite complex, were already prominent in mosaics as early as the first century ad. And surely figures and figure scenes, which represent conspicuous expenditure and (given the dominance of mythological subjects) assert the patron’s knowledge of classical culture, were more effective than abstract patterns in demonstrating elite status? Other claims, too, are contentious. It is misleading to declare, tout court, that non-figurative mosaics have a suffered a ‘general neglect … in scholarly studies’ (p 24). This does scant justice to the work of David Smith and his followers in Britain, or that of Henri Stern, Janine Lancha and others in France. On a more specific note, one can question how far labyrinth patterns were favoured for their optical effects (p 11): it is much more likely that the patron or artist was interested mainly in presenting viewers with a puzzle – how to trace a route from the periphery to the centre (the diagram in fig 1.1 unfortunately closes the ‘gateways’ that make this possible). On p 23 the assumption that ancient painters were unaware of vanishing-point perspective totally disregards evidence to the contrary, such as Vitruvius’ account of the stage-sets of Agatharchus (De Architectura vii, preface, 11) and the surviving wall-decorations of the House of Augustus in Rome (see, for example, Richter 1970, fig 217a and b).

These and other shortcomings weaken the force of Swift’s discussions on interior decoration. But there is still much that is admirable – for example, the analyses of the visual dynamics of the mosaics in selected houses, notably the House of the Muses at Ostia. In short, this is a stimulating book, which will offer readers much food for thought, even if these readers are entitled to remain sceptical of some of the ideas that it offers.