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A third quarter 19th century Roman micro mosaic tondo panel depicting a view of the Basilica of St Peter's in Rome probably attributable to the workshop of Biagio Barzotti image 1
A third quarter 19th century Roman micro mosaic tondo panel depicting a view of the Basilica of St Peter's in Rome probably attributable to the workshop of Biagio Barzotti image 2
Lot 65

A third quarter 19th century Roman micro mosaic tondo panel depicting a view of the Basilica of St Peter's in Rome
probably attributable to the workshop of Biagio Barzotti

Important Design
5 April 2017, 14:00 BST
London, New Bond Street

Sold for £11,250 inc. premium

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A third quarter 19th century Roman micro mosaic tondo panel depicting a view of the Basilica of St Peter's in Rome

probably attributable to the workshop of Biagio Barzotti
the view incorporating an unusual terrace and rooftop foreground with two figures of a lady and a gentleman to the left hand side, the whole set within a black marble and malachite border and mounted within a carved and moulded giltwood and composition Florentine style tooled square frame, the frame possibly manufactured by S. Masa of Via del Corso, Rome,
the panel, 31cm diameter, the frame, 49cm x 49cm overall

Footnotes

Provenance:
Property of a Gentleman

This attractive micro mosaic panel depicting a typical Grand Tour view of St Peters square unusually shows a more elaborate foreground of a rooftop and terrace with elegant figures surveying the vista. Although non-conclusive, the costume of the lady in the pink would perhaps suggest a date somewhere in the region of 1850-65 when the fashion for full crinoline skirts reached their most exaggerated. However it could be that the panel was actually manufactured at a slightly later date when fashions in the real world had already moved on as the craftsman may not have caught up with the changes in fashionable modes of ladies dress.

The popularity of St Peter's Square as a major tourist destination is attested by the numerous miscromosaic souvenir depictions of the view made which were made by local craftsmen and studios and sold to the cities many visitors.

A comparable panel almost certainly by the same maker and depicting an identical view of the square but with slightly different figures to the foreground is illustrated in Christopher Payne's book 'European Furniture of the 19th Century', Antique Collectors Club, 2013, page 392. The frame of this panel incorporates single floral roundels to each corner rather than the perhaps more attractive scrolling tooled motifs of the present lot. However as the frame illustrated in the book bears the remnants of a paper label for the frame maker 'S Masa of the via del Corso' with a date of 1870-71, the author suggests an even later date of the 1880's and this may in itself suggest that the current lot is actually of a slightly later date than one would initially presume. A further panel depicting the same view but with more a simplified terrace foreground with figures is illustrated in Jeanette Hanisee Gabriel's catalogue for The Gilbert Collection, Phillip Wilson, 2000.

Related Literature:
Payne, Christopher, 'European Furniture of the 19th Century', Antique Collectors Club, 2013, p. 292
Gabriel, Jeanette Hanisee, 'The Gilbert Collection, Micromosaics' Philip Wilson, 2000, pl. 92, p. 160

Additional information

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