A rare gold-mounted micromosaic and porphyry bonbonniere, in the style of Francesco Sibilio, Rome, early nineteenth century

Collection Di Castro, Rome.

The Roman marmista ('marble craftsman') Francesco Sibilio (1784-1859) or another equally skilled craftsman working in his style seems to have drawn inspiration for this most unusual snuff box from a Roman mosaic from the 2^nd century AD, discovered in a Roman villa at Torre Tre Teste in 1777 and now in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in Copenhagen (I.N.890). The ancient floor mosaic does not only feature the chosen subjects for the present lot, the Abduction of Europe and Amphitrite and Poseidon, in a strikingly similar composition and colour scheme, but it also includes the geometric, entwined ribbons and Greek key borders which further decorate the present box on a much smaller scale.

Gold boxes with micromosaic sides are very rare, partially due to the difficulties for the artists caused by the curved surface.

While scholarly interest in the oeuvre of Francesco Sibilio has grown in recent years and two signed tabletops have allowed for a few more attributions of larger scale objets d’art to this master marble specialist, hardly anything is known about any achievements on a smaller scale.

Sibilio’s few recorded works are traditionally praised for his inventive combination of antique glass and marble specimens, closely linked to the fashion for mineralogical collections at the time, his personal interest in the plentiful occurrence of unusual archaeological marbles in Rome and the flourishing trade supported by the wealthy Grand Tour clientele (Martine S. Newby, Francesco Sibilio and the reuse of ancient Roman glass in the nineteenth century, London, 2003).

The beauty of the present most unusual mosaic box perhaps further lies in the  balance and harmony of a design based on a source from the Antique (note especially the fine graduation in colours in the ribbons along the sides). Therefore, the choice of porphyry for the lining of the box and the fine borders around the mosaics, with the typical white and slightly irregular inclusions, may not be a coincidence for it cleverly refers to the shape of white tesserae forming the background for the mosaics. Furthermore, the intertwined mosaic ribbons on the side are picked up again on a smaller scale by the chased gold entrelac-de-rubans borders above; overall the quality of the treatment of the gold is reminiscent of that prevalent in trailblazing Paris in the later eighteenth century. The combination of the above undoubtedly makes the present lot a rare and very unusual bijou-sized treasure at the height of lapidary achievements and innovations in late eighteenth century Rome.