Earring

Micromosaic was a technique of composing pictures through the proper arrangement of very small pieces of frosted glass in different colours cut from long smalti filati bars. This technique was elaborated in the last quarter of the 18th century in Rome. At the end of the 18th century and in the first half of the 19th century, pictures created in this manner became one of the most popular objects purchased by Europeans from outside the Alps making their Italian Grand Tour. These were both independent objects in the form of small pictures to be hung on walls, often with ancient motifs, but also parts of larger wholes, e.g., scenes embedded in boxes or furniture or – as in the case described below – scenes adorning jewellery.

Consisting of two round parts connected by a double chain, the earring has decorations made using the micromosaic technique in round plaques. We are astonished at the craftsmanship of these dainty pictures presenting a standing woman in a regional costume (the larger part) and the portrait of a woman in profile (the smaller part). The earring is part of a pair (cf. note Wil.5683/2); both form a set with a brooch (cf. note Wil.5682). Similar sets of jewellery decorated with pictures in the micromosaic technique were produced on an increased scale in the 19th century. When browsing catalogues of auction house websites, we can notice quite many examples of jewellery with micromosaic that present images of people dressed in traditional clothes. One of these examples is the earring described here and the whole set: the second earring also shows the profile of a woman and – in the large scene – a walking man shows from one side, and the brooch presents a female weaver. As Małgorzata Zając writes (M. Zając, A set of jewellery with micromosaic, in: The Wilanów collection. Continuation, 1993-2011, Warszawa 2011): ‘Mosaicists creating works with such motifs often drew inspiration from the output of Bartolomeo Pinelli (1771–1835) – a Roman engraver and illustrator who issued a few groups of engravings presenting scenes from rural life and traditional Italian outfits in the years 1809–1823.’