MICROMOSAICO "LE COLOMBE DI PLINIO" ENTRO CORNICE
placca rettangolare in micromosaico raffigurante la nota scena decorativa "Le Colombe di Plinio" su cornice in bronzo, dim. cm 9,5x8 circa, gr. 160
"DOVES OF PLINY" FRAMED MICROMOSAIC
The compositional scheme taken up by the mosaic derives from a famous example preserved in the Capitoline Museums, found by Cardinal Giuseppe Alessandro Furietti (1685-1764) in 1737, during the excavations started at Villa Adriana, recognizing that work as the masterpiece of Sosus of Pergamum ( 2nd century BC), mentioned by Pliny the Elder in his Naturalis Historia.
The name is due to the four doves depicted resting on the edge of a gilded bronze cantaro filled with water, from which one of them is drinking.