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Bracelet
unknown - Enlarge image
Bracelet
- Place of origin:
Rome, Italy (probably, made)
- Date:
ca.1850 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
unknown (production)
- Materials and Techniques:
Gold silver copper alloy, with blue glass and micromosaic.
- Credit Line:
The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London
- Museum number:
LOAN:GILBERT.151-2008
- Gallery location:
Gold, Silver & Mosaics, room 72, case 6
This set of jewellery, comprising necklace, bracelet and earrings, has the unusual and technically impressive feature that each panel is double-sided. The wearer could choose between the two most popular decorative themes - with either the monuments of Rome or figures in regional costume uppermost.
The term 'micromosaic' is used to describe mosaics made of the smallest glass pieces. Some micromosaics contain more than 5000 pieces per square inch. The earliest attempts at micromosaic revealed visible joins between the pieces (known as tesserae) and a lack of perspective. Later artists such as Antonio Aguatti made huge advances in micromosaic technique, resulting in renderings that were truer to life. Glass micromosaic technique developed in the 18th century, in the Vatican Mosaic Workshop in Rome, where they still undertake restoration work today.
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.
