AN ITALIAN MICROMOSAIC PLAQUE

This very fine plaque is representative of early 19th-century micromosaics, as seen in the use of the square tesserae to the sky and extremely small, variantly-shaped tesserae to the foreground. This micromosaic may be attributed to Giacomo Raffaeli and closely relates to two gold box covers signed by the artist, dated to the early 19th century (illustrated R. Grieco, Roman Micromosaic, Rome, 2007, p. 76, figs. 180 & 181).