Tesselles

Tesselles is a term sometimes used to refer to the small elements that make up a mosaic surface. More commonly, these units are called tesserae (singular tessera), with tesserae or tessellae being the standard plurals. The word tessella comes from Latin tessella, a diminutive of tessera, meaning a small tile or die used in a mosaic or in decorative inlay. The form tesselles is not widely used in standard mosaic terminology and may appear as a misspelling or less common variant.

In practice, tesselles are typically pieces of stone, glass, ceramic, or other materials cut to a uniform size and shape to fit together without gaps. While many tesserae are square or rectangular, mosaicists may also use triangular, polygonal, or irregular shapes to achieve particular patterns or effects. The size of tesselles can range from very small micro-mosaics to larger field pieces, depending on the design and technique.

Historically, tesselles have been fundamental to mosaic art across cultures and eras, including ancient Roman and Byzantine works and various Islamic and Mediterranean mosaics. They are set into mortar or plaster and then secured with grout to create a continuous, tessellated surface. Conservation of historic mosaics often involves careful removal and replacement of damaged tesselles, color-matching, and stabilization of the underlying support.

In contemporary practice, tesselles remain the basic building blocks of mosaic art and decorative tiling. The term’s usage varies, but the concept of tesselles as the individual, fit-together pieces in a tessellated pattern remains central, linking mosaic craft to the broader idea of tessellation in mathematics.