Micromosaic jewelry - BlueRidgeNow.com
A mosaic is an arrangement of components which work together to produce a piece of art. Usually it is representational art, which means the pieces go together to represent some recognizable object like a person, a building, flowers or the like. Micromosaic jewelry is a variety of mosaic art.
In micromosaics, the pieces are usually very small and the total image is set into some background material which is part of a brooch, a ring, a bracelet or some other item of jewelry.
Technically, micromosaics were first produced in the 16th century and there was scattered production for a few centuries. In the late 1700s significant production began and they really attained popularity in the 1800s, peaking in the 1860s and declining rapidly in the 1870s.
Most micromosaic jewelry that we see today is from the category that we call Roman. Very tiny bricks (perhaps the size of one or two pinheads) of many colors are cemented to a metal backing. Of course they are arranged to create a piece of art. Then they are framed with gold, sterling or some other decorative metal and made into jewelry. Sometimes the little work of art is set into a host material, like onyx, before it is framed. This was especially common after Queen Victoria’s husband Albert died in 1861 and she went into mourning. For many years thereafter, English high society had to wear black so even when traveling in Italy, they sought it out.
The art in micromosaics often depicts an ancient architectural building, or a beautiful lady, or a floral arrangement or anything else an artist might depict. From any distance, the eye cannot pick up the individual bricks and the jewelry looks like a painting. The skill required to produce these pieces is amazing. Micromosaics often served as souvenirs for tourists on a grand tour of Europe in the 19th century.
Part of the development of micromosaics came from a problem that was observed soon after the completion of St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. A substantial moisture problem started ruining many of the fine paintings in the great church so they hit upon the unusual means of preserving their appearance of copying them in mosaic glass. This evolved into micromosaics for many of the works of art.
The world of art is not always fair. It takes a great deal of skill and work to produce a piece of micromosaic jewelry, but the price is heavily dictated by the frame, not the art. A micromosaic in sterling is often not very expensive, whereas one in gold is substantially more expensive. For example, in a recent auction, a group of five micromosaic pins in gold plated frames sold for $250, or just $50 each. But a single solid gold brooch with a micromosaic of the Roman Colosseum brought $800.
The picture shows a pin in which the micromosaic art is set in onyx which is then set in a gold frame.
If you google this subject be sure to search both micromosaic and micro mosaic, because it is spelled both ways.
