Box with Lion, and a Dog and Duck
Roman (Artist)
second quarter 19th century
gold, glass tesserae (18th and 19th Centuries )
This box is unusual in that it has very fine micromosaic on the top, bottom, and around the sides. Animals are a common subject in this medium. The floral bands around the sides of the box are on a black background, similar to those on the sides of a rectangular box attributed to Gioacchino Barberi (1722-1857) reproduced in Jeanette Hanisee Gabriel's book "Micromosaics: Private Collections" on page 184. Barberi is credited with inventing and developing black as a background to micromosiacs in imitation of ancient paintings at Herculaneum and Pompeii.











