Snuffbox
c. 1820 (made)
Artist/Maker | |
Place of origin |
This scene is in a tradition of landscapes inspired by 17th-century artists which had become fashionable once again in the late-18th and 19th centuries.
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.
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.
Object details
Categories | |
Object type | |
Materials and techniques | Chased gold, micromosaic and hardstone |
Brief description | Snuffbox with landscape. Micromosaic, hardstone and gold, Rome, ca. 1820 |
Physical description | A rectangular snuffbox made of hardstone with canted corners. The cover is set with a micromosaic depicting a river landscape with ruins on the right and a distant mountain town on the left. The gold sides and top border of the cover are chased with flowers, leaves and beading. |
Dimensions |
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Gallery label |
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Credit line | The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London |
Object history | Provenance: D.S. Lavender, London, 1983. Historical significance: There was a revival of interest in Arcadian landscape in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. |
Historical context | The micromosaic plaque represents an Arcadian landscape in the tradition of Nicholas Poussin (1594-1665) and Claude Lorraine (1600-82). The representation of the ruin is from the imagination and therefore a capriccio. |
Subjects depicted | |
Summary | This scene is in a tradition of landscapes inspired by 17th-century artists which had become fashionable once again in the late-18th and 19th centuries. 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. |
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Other numbers |
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Collection | |
Accession number | LOAN:GILBERT.478-2008 |
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Record created | June 19, 2008 |
Record URL |
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