Classic Design Including Property of the Marquess of Anglesey

Classic Design Including Property of the Marquess of Anglesey

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 131. An Italian micromosaic table top, Rome, early 19th century.

Property from Ollerton Grange: an Interior by Robert Kime (lots 92-168)

An Italian micromosaic table top, Rome, early 19th century

UK: Greenford Park WarehouseRestricted Species

Lot Closed

April 11, 03:11 PM GMT

Estimate

30,000 - 50,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

depicting the Doves of Pliny within a greek key border on a black micromosaic ground, on a George IV elm and rosewood base, the turned pillar with a lotus leaf collar surrounded by three turned and leaf-carved subsidiary supports, on a tricorn plinth with turned feet concealing brass castors


75.5m high, 86.5cm wide; 2ft. 5 ¾in., 2ft. 10in.

This lot contains endangered species. Sotheby's recommends that buyers check with their own government regarding any importation requirements prior to placing a bid. For example, US regulations restrict or prohibit the import of certain items to protect wildlife conservation. Please note that Sotheby's will not assist buyers with the shipment of this lot to the US. A buyer's inability to export or import these lots cannot justify a delay in payment or sale cancellation.

Sotheby's, London, Important English Furniture, 13th June 2001, lot 143.

The composition of the present finely executed mosaic derives from the celebrated Hadrian's Villa marble mosaic dating from the 2nd century BC, rediscovered in 1737 and now in the Capitoline Museum, Rome. The Roman author and historian Pliny the Elder, in his Historia Naturalis described the panel as: "A dove drinking, and darkening the water with the shadow of her head, on the lip of the vessel are other doves pluming themselves." This mosaic is now commonly known as The Doves of Pliny and has been described by Alvar Gonzalez-Palacios as "perhaps the most loved mosaic of antiquity" (Gonzalez-Palacios, The Art of Mosaics: Selections from the Gilbert Collection (exh.cat.), 1977, p. 57). A circular panel of the same subject is in the Gilbert Collection, see J. H. Gabriel, The Gilbert Collection. Miscromosaics, 2000, pp. 32-33, fig. 5). Much like this example, the present is also on a black micromosaic ground.