Micromosaic Box with Monkey

Artist Giacomo Raffaelli (Italian (Rome), 1753-1836)

Date1794

Dimensionsrim diam: 3 in. (7.9 cm);
box H: 1 in. (2.54 cm)

Mediumopaque, cut, polychrome glass assembled on copper with tortoiseshell frame

ClassificationGlass

Credit LineMr. and Mrs. George M. Jones, Jr. Fund

Object number

2004.67

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 23

Label TextThis exquisite tortoiseshell box is decorated with the image of a Diana monkey made by the mosaicist Giacomo Raffaelli. Raffaelli is credited with the invention of micromosaics—images painstakingly assembled from tiny pieces (tesserae) of colored glass that are set into a resin-like layer on a copper support. Some of the tesserae in this mosaic are as small as .05 inches across. Micromosaics became a specialty of 18th- and 19th-century Roman artisans. Although they customarily used prints, drawings, and paintings as inspiration for their images, the specific sources have rarely been identified. This monkey, however, appears to be carefully rendered after the painting by Melchior d’Hondecoeter nearby (notice how closely the pose and coloring correspond). How Raffaelli knew the painting, which was about a century old by the time he made the micromosaic, is not yet known. Like in the painting, this monkey wears a belt and metal ring around its waist. A chained monkey was a popular symbol of humankind voluntarily captive to sin. It is thus a subtle reminder to use the tempting contents of the box (tobacco or sweets) in moderation.Published References"A glass building for glass," Antiques, vol. 170, no. 3, Sept. 2006, repr. p. 16 (col.).

Page, Jutta-Annette, The Art of Glass: Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio, Toledo Museum of Art, 2006, p. 124, repr. (col.) p. 125.

Spillman, Jane Shadel, "Glass in glass" The Toledo Museum of Art," Glass Club Bulletin, no. 208, Summer, 2007, repr. p. 22.

Putney, Richard and Paula Reich, Glass in glass: The Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Toledo Museum of Art, 2007, p. 20, repr. p. 20 (3 det., col.) and p. 21 (col.).

Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Museum of Art Masterworks, Toledo, 2009, p. 220, repr. (col.).

Gabriel, Jeanette Hanisee, Micromosaics: private collections, Brian McCarthy, 2016, p. 311.

Comparative ReferencesSee also Efimova, Alla, Western European Mosaic from the 13th-19th centuries in the collection of the Hermitage, 1968.

See also Petochi, Domenico and Alfieri, I Mosaici Minuti Romani, 1981.

See also Alfieri et al, Mosaici Minuti Romani, Rome: Vatican, 1986.

See also Hanisee-Gabriel, Jeannette, The Gilbert Collection: Micromosaics, London 2000.