Doves of Pliny
Medium
Glass mosaic on bronze
Dimensions
Diameter: 4 3/4 in. (12.1 cm)
Classification
Glass
Culture
Italian, Rome
Department
European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, Gifts of Dr. and Mrs. A.L. Garbat and Irwin Untermyer, by exchange, 1982
Accession Number
1982.22
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the late 18th century, artist Giacomo Raffaelli the art of micromosaic, creating exquisite miniature replicas of ancient Roman treasures for Grand Tour travelers visiting Rome. His *Doves of Pliny* (1783), a glass mosaic on bronze just 4 3/4 inches in, captures the serene beauty of a famed antiquity: a pair of doves delicately drinking from a basin, perched on its rim. This design echoes Pliny the Elder's description in *Natural History* of a mosaic from Emperor Augustus's Portico of Adonis, though it draws directly from a well-preserved version unearthed in Pompeii's House of the Faun. Ra...