This tortoiseshell box is set with a micromosaic of a popular scene, the Capitoline Doves. The image, inspired by a mosaic uncovered in 1737 at Hadrian's villa near Tivoli, became an iconic motif of Roman micromosaics and was reproduced in innumerable versions and formats, of which Arthur Gilbert acquired no less than seventy different versions. This version is an early example, which uses rough square and rectilinear tesserae. The micromosaic is surrounded by a row of This version is an early example, which uses rough square and rectilinear tesserae. The micromosaic is surrounded by a row of millefiori, glass tesserae made of fused slices of varicoloured glass rods, a common technique in early micromosaics.

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.