An Italian micromosaic panel, Rome, circa 1850

This subject is a nineteenth-century variation of the famous mosaic of doves in a bowl by Sosus of Pergamon that was described by Pliny and is now in the Museo Pio Clementino. This version, with the doves in a basket filled with flowers, allows the micromosaicist to bring the bravura skill of a still life, and brings out the symbolically romantic associations of turtle doves. This object is seen on some other tabletops and panels from the period, notably one that was formerly in the Gilbert Collection that sold at Sotheby’s London, 4 December 2019, lot 1, another version at Sotheby’s New York, 12 April 2022, lot 191, one in Christopher Payne’s book European Furniture of the 19^th Century, Woodbridge, 1981, p.478 and two that were in the collection of Gianni Versace, sold Sotheby’s New York, 5-7 April 2001, lots 138 and 139.