<Li> Quedlinburg Itala fragment--5th - century Old Testament </Li> <Li> Late Antique mosaics in Italy and Early Byzantine mosaics in the Middle East . </Li> <P> Gold sandwich glass or gold glass was a technique for fixing a layer of gold leaf with a design between two fused layers of glass, developed in Hellenistic glass and revived in the 3rd century . There are a very fewer larger designs, but the great majority of the around 500 survivals are roundels that are the cut - off bottoms of wine cups or glasses used to mark and decorate graves in the Catacombs of Rome by pressing them into the mortar . The great majority are 4th century, extending into the 5th century . Most are Christian, but many pagan and a few Jewish, and had probably originally been given as gifts on marriage, or festive occasions such as New Year . Their iconography has been much studied, although artistically they are relatively unsophisticated . Their subjects are similar to the catacomb paintings, but with a difference balance including more portraiture of the deceased (usually, it is presumed). The progression to an increased number of images of saints can be seen in them . The same technique began to be used for gold tesserae for mosaics in the mid-1st century in Rome, and by the 5th century these had become the standard background for religious mosaics . </P>

Earliest examples of christian art have been discovered in