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.
George V and Mary, King and Queen of Hanover, a micromosaic and ormolu centre table of documentary importance presented by Pope Pius IX to the royal couple in circa 1850 to 1860, Vatican Workshop, Rome, mid 19th century.
Sotheby's
Short history of roman baroque mosaics
Pope Pius IX began his reign in 1846 at a very critical time, when dissatisfaction found vents in revolts, which could only be quelled by the intervention of foreign powers. The ferment in the dominion of the church was accentuated by the revolutionary disturbances throughout ascendant in all the states of Europe. A passionate aspiration towards national unity rose in Italy and on March 18, 1848 the revolution broke out in Milan. The Swiss Guard was disbanded and the pope made prisoner. Pius IX fled with the help of the French and Bavarian ambassadors to Gaeta, to return to Rome only in 1850 with the help of foreign arms; embittered and hostile towards any form of political liberalism, the pontiff had thrown himself into the arms of the Jesuits.
The continued existence of the Papal States in the subsequent decade depended in fact on the understanding of the protecting powers, France and Austria, until in 1870 the remnants of any States were lost and merged into the kingdom of Italy.
It is undoubtedly during this period that an important present such as the present table was offered in return for support. The Guelphs, traditionally allied with the Roman See would certainly have been in favour due to their stance against Prussia, the latter being the subject in 1875 of the pontiff’s Quod numquam.
The colour range of roman mosaics would have been fairly limited initially, as the material consisted of a translucent glass paste. So materials were developed, such as oil based mastics, until circa 1730 when the Vatican studio perfected opaque enamel and boasted it had over 15.000 colours and tints at the disposal of their artists. This new material also permitted for mosaics to be thinner and flatter, allowing the artist to introduce more subtlety in execution: `Painting became the ideal toward which mosaics aspired, but that aspiration would not have been possible without the thousands of different coloured tesserae, which permitted an exact imitation of the tonal range found in painting'. Mosaics did not only have an extraordinary lasting freshness of colour, but they also served a purpose of being able to survive fires, a worry during the 17th and 18th century. By 1770, most of the basilica’s altarpieces by artist such as Raphael (1483 – 1520) and Guido Reni (1575 – 1642) had been successfully copied in mosaic. One observer wrote: `The popes have established at the Vatican a manufacture where are executed, as at the Gobelins, prodigious work. One is well advised there to reproduce the works of the most celebrated masters under the pretext, however honourable, of conserving for posterity the chefs-d’oeuvre which a fire could so easily destroy. Raphael, Titian and the Domenichan are thus ensured eternal life’ (see Edward Didron, `Du Role Decoratif de la Peinture en Mosaique’, Gazette des Beaux arts, series 2, vol. II, 1875, pp.442-459).
During the last quarter of the eighteenth century the materials used for mosaics were dramatically refined. This enabled mosaic makers to execute much smaller works, leading to the emergence of micromosaics. Also, normal sized mosaic panels gained in detail and quality of execution. The earlier mosaics had visible joints between the different elements and towards the late 18th century, this problem had been overcome
Micromosaics are a bit insane. TIL that “The doves of Pliny,” named after a marble mosaic in Hadrian’s Villa described by the Roman writer Pliny in his Historia Naturalis, was a popular theme for these.
Ask A Genius 1136: Micromosaics and Bent Hangers on an Easel
Rick Rosner: When you have plates you want to show off, you get those little easels that keep them from being used as actual plates. I bend hangers into easels to support micromosaics that have lost their stands.
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: When did you first get into micromosaics?
Rosner: My wife had one or two pieces that she inherited from her mom, and she thought they were pretty. Carole is…
