AN ITALIAN GILT-BRONZE FRAME

This superb frame, which probably originally housed a precious pietra dura panel or micromosaic picture, was probably executed by one of the eminent Roman bronziers working in the 'antique' style of the 1770's, such as Luigi and Giuseppe Valadier or Paolo and Giuseppe Spagna.

Paolo Spagna and his son Giuseppe supplied a series of gilt-bronze frames, the majority for micromosaic pictures, to Pope Pius VI in the 1770's and 1780's, many of which featured similar laurel and beaded borders (see A. González-Palacios, Arredi e Ornamenti Alla Corte di Roma 1560-1795, Milan, 2004, pp. 226-241).