Antique Italian Micro Mosaic Depicting Rome Colosseum
$9,450.00
Our client's lovely micromosaic stone plaque depicting the Colosseum in Rome dating from the mid-nineteenth century and is possibly by Cesare Rocchegiani. The oval mosaic is set within a black slate ground decorated with geometric malachite stone inlay. Mounted in period giltwood frame measuring 18 by 21 3/8 inches.
Cesare Roccheggiani (fl. 1860) hailed from a line of renowned Vatican mosaicists including Antonio Roccheggiani, who participated in the International Exhibitions of London in 1851 and Paris in 1855 and Lorenzo and Nicola Roccheggiani. He was believed to have been apprenticed to maestro Michaelangelo Barberi (1787-1867) and refined his composition skill by copying many of Barberi's designs. Cesare Roccheggiani became the leading supplier of micromosaic works to American and North European visitors on the Grand Tour.
This view of the Colosseum includes the ruins of a conical fountain called the Meta Sudans. Several other versions of the Colosseum are in the books Jeanette Hanisee Gabriel, Micromosaics: The Gilbert Collection, 2000, no. 16 p. 68; no. 58 p. 117), and Jeanette Hanisee Gabriel, Micromosaics: Private Collections, 2016 (no. 34, p.72). A circular example, with distinctive malachite border, featuring the same scene characteristics, bearing embossed Roccheggiani atelier inscription was sold Christie's London, 23 February 2006, lot 135.
