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Lot Essay
The original mosaic panel of the Doves of Pliny was discovered in 1737 by Monsignor Furietti on the floor of the Villa Hadrian (125-133 AD), and later purchased by Pope Clement XIII. The scene was described by the natural historian Pliny the Elder in Natural History XXXVII as proof of the perfection to which the art of the mosaics had arrived. He writes: 'At Pergamos is a wonderful specimen of a dove drinking and darkening the water with the shadow of her head; on the lip of the vessel are other doves pluming themselves in the sun'.
In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the much celebrated Capitoline Doves of Pliny was perhaps the most celebrated mosaic preserved from antiquity and as such, the most frequently repeated by mosaicists. The scene was replicated many times by the makers of shell cameos and glass micromosaics for jewellery, box lids and plaques of all sizes. The work is preserved today in the Museo Capitolino in Rome.
In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the much celebrated Capitoline Doves of Pliny was perhaps the most celebrated mosaic preserved from antiquity and as such, the most frequently repeated by mosaicists. The scene was replicated many times by the makers of shell cameos and glass micromosaics for jewellery, box lids and plaques of all sizes. The work is preserved today in the Museo Capitolino in Rome.