Peerless Roman Micromosaic Etrsucan Pendant Locket c. 1865

Caroline's Jewelry with a Past is offering an 18Kt. bloomed yellow gold Archaeological revival style pendant with a Roman micro-mosaic of a white dove hovering above a bouquet of pink flowers c. 1865. The tessarae dove and flowers are on a royal blue ground. The center mosaic is circled by a finely wrought 4 level bezel with ball decoration. Surrounding the central piece is a sun ray design picked out in ombre green mosaic. The wide gold hanger has 2 additional mosaics of small white flowers on a red ground and a single white flower on a blue ground. The reverse of the piece has a locket compartment which closes tightly. Around the locket is millegraining and wirework with the motifs of Etruscan Revival design. The back has "VIS" in raised gold letters. The pendant is 1-5/8" long overall X 15/16" wide (maximum dimensions). The piece weighs 12.5 grams.

"VIS" was a Roman goddess of force, power, might and bodily strength. She, along with her sisters and brother, were enforcers of the will of Zeus.

The tesserae (tiles) of the micromosaic are tiny. Micromosaics (or micro mosaics, micro-mosaics) are a special form of design that uses unusually small mosaic pieces (tesserae) of glass. Wearing micromosaic jewelry became popular during the Grand Tour period (17th - 19th Century). Members of rich European families would travel around Europe, taking in the sights and cultures of different countries. Italy was a very popular tourist spot as it had a long and prestigious history in arts and culture. Mosaic jewelry of this period usually depicted famous Italian landmarks such as the Colosseum and St. Peter's Basilica, though Roman mythology, animals, landscape scenes and Italian or Swiss Italian peasants were subjects. Rather than being sold in Italy, many micromosaics were exported to jewelers in London and Paris to be set into larger pieces. Micromosaic jewelry fell out of fashion in the 1870's. (annotated from Wikipedia).

Blooming, or bloomed gold was a finishing technique for jewelry from about 1860 until the turn of the 20th. century. A gold item was dipped into a chemical mixture to remove any alloys that were present on the surface of the gold. The surface presented after the dipping has a pure gold appearance and a matte finish.

The gold content of this piece has been tested using standard accepted testing methods, such as acid testing. This piece is in good condition with some missing tessarae on the tips of the green ombre design. A chain is not included.