An almost identical white and tan spaniel appears on a micromosaic panel set into the lid of a chased gold snuffbox inscribed: Moulinié, Bautte & Moynier, Geneva, circa 1820. The micromosaic is signed: Barberi for Gioacchino Barberi (1783– 1857) and shows the dog in exactly the same position but contemplating two dead pigeons which it has presumably just retrieved. Another spaniel, again in the same pose, appears on an even more complicated micromosaic signed by Barberi, this time in a domestic setting, ensconced in front of a fire in the company of a cat and her kitten, the panel mounted in London into a snuffbox, maker’s mark of Rawlings & Summers, 1840–1841: see inventory number 4698PC22/ДПИ. The micromosaic is probably based on a dog portrait by Johann Wenzel Peter (1745–1829), such as the one he painted of ‘Tawny’, the spaniel of William, 6th Duke of Devonshire (1790–1858), in 1819. Although the duke sent the original painting to England, Peter would certainly have retained the preparatory drawings, which were afterwards used as a source by several Roman mosaicists. Barberi evidently had a deserved reputation for canine portraits as he was also the author of a micromosaic portrait of two lioncut white Pomeranians on a leopard-skin rug, undoubtedly some rich tourist’s cherished pets.

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