Fragment of a barrier with floral decoration

The techniques of making garlands and wreaths, the most appropriate plant materials, and the proper time and way to wear or display them, were the subjects of several treatises. Fruits and vegetables mounded in baskets or spilling in profusion out of a cornucopia were types of arrangements used for religious offerings. The earliest depiction of mixed cut flowers, artfully arranged in a container, is a mosaic dating from the early 2nd century ce of a basket of flowers from the emperor Hadrian's villa at Tivoli nea Rome. Garlands and wreaths continued to be popular among the Romans, as did displays of fruits and vegetables in cornucopias and baskets.