Snuffbox with a Micromosaic Landscape
Snuffbox with a Micromosaic Landscape
France, Italy, Paris, Rome (micromosaic)
1809–1812; c. 1810 (micromosaic)
Boizot, Marie Victoire (veuve Blerzy); Verdejo, Vincenzo (micromosaic)
Gold, enamel, micromosaic
1.9 × 8.0 × 5.5 cm
Marks: maker’s mark, post-Revolutionary unregistered 2e titre (20.25ct), Paris petite garantie, 1809–1819, stamped: 351, French eagle head control mark, 1847–1919, struck twice; micromosaic, signed V.V
The plaque shows the ruins of the bridge of Augustus over the river Nera at Narni. The composition is based on a painting by Jacob Philipp Hackert (1737–1807), engraved by his brother Georg Abraham Hackert (1755–1805) and published in Naples in 1780. The same engraving was used as a source for the plaque set on the following snuffbox; a further example is in the collection of the Musei Vaticani, Rome. Vincenzo Verdejo’s workshop in Rome was located at 33–35 via Condotti. While the subjects he rendered in mosaic included landscape, as seen here, and animals, for example a spaniel in the collection of the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, he appears to have specialised in papal portraits. At least three roundel portraits of Pope Pius VII are recorded, and one of his successor, Pope Leo XII.
4373MC649/ДПИ