GOLD AND MICROMOSAIC SNUFF BOX, FIRST HALF OF THE 19TH CENTURY WORK

Gold, rectangular snuff box with a hinged lid featuring a micromosaic featuring an idyllic Roman landscape with characters near a river with the background of ruins emerging from a misty landscape. The micro-mosaic is set in a gold frame with a bright floral decoration standing on a gold amati background. This same floral decoration is found on the bate and is framed by a line of royal blue enamel. The bottom of the snuffbox has a guilloche decor.
The landscape, with trees and people in the foreground and a misty background is reminiscent of the Arcadian or Caprician landscapes painted by Claude Lorrain. It is a view of the Lamentano bridge near Tivoli and often represented by artists including I. Silvestre during their Grand Tour. The rectangular shape of the tesselles (small mosaic tiles), especially the background composed of parallel, rectangular tesselles, allows this piece to be dated at the first half of the 19th century.
REF: 4917