Bracelet, decorated with micromosaics

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This gold-mounted bracelet is decorated with micromosaics of classical buildings, flowers and figures. It was made in Rome between around 1830 and 1840.

The micromosaic on the far left represents four doves drinking from a bowl. It is based on a large classical mosaic which was discovered at Tivoli in 1737 and subsequently installed in the Capitoline Museum in Rome. Called 'The Doves of Pliny', this became a favourite Roman subject for micromosaics in the late 18th and 19th centuries.

Micromosaics are built up of hundreds or thousands of minute tessarae - cubes or chips - of coloured glass. Many late eighteenth- and early 19th-century micromosaics show views of classical buildings, some based on the hundred small engravings of the antiquities of Rome by Domenico Pronti, published in the late eighteenth century.

Record details

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• Online ID: 000-180-000-036-C
• Image Rights Holder: National Museums Scotland
• Project: National Museums Scotland Part 2
  Project description   View all records in project
• Ref: National Museums Scotland  A.1906.406
• Date: Between around 1830 and 1840
  Early 19th century
  
• Material: Gold mounted
  Bracelet
  
• Dimensions: 7.50" L x 3.50" W
  
• What: Bracelet
  
• Subject: Jewellery : Bracelets and bangles
  
• Who:
• Where: Italy
  
• Event:
• Description: Bracelet of gold-mounted Roman Mosaics: Italian, early 19th century
  
• References:
  • Evans, G. Souvenirs From Roman Times to the Present Day. Edinburgh: NMS Publishing Ltd, 1999, pp 26-7. 
• Translations:
• Related Records: