These panels were probably made at the Opificio delle Pietre Dure in Florence around 1785, a workshop specialising in hardstone mosaics, set up in 1558 under Ferdinando I de Medici.

The cockerel is a recurrent motif in Florentine commessi (stone mosaics) since the 17th century and appears again in decorative arts (notably porcelain services) from the 1760s, following the success of ornithological publications, notably the Comte de Buffon’s Natural History of Birds (published in nine volumes between 1749 and 1804). The association of the cockerel with French national identity became evident only after the Revolution. For the dramatic effect of the plumage here, relatively larger sections of variegated Bohemian and Florentine jaspers have been used instead of smaller aggregated pieces.

Sir Arthur Gilbert and his wife Rosalinde formed one of the world’s great decorative art collections, including silver, mosaics, enamelled portrait miniatures and gold boxes. Arthur Gilbert donated his extraordinary collection to Britain in 1996.