{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O157775"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O157775/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2009CC8159/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2009CC8159/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2009CC8159","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London/ © the Rosalinde & Arthur Gilbert Collection, on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London ","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2009CR4067","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London/ © the Rosalinde & Arthur Gilbert Collection, on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London ","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2009CP2636","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London/ © the Rosalinde & Arthur Gilbert Collection, on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London ","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2018KY4243","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2018KY4245","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2018KY4247","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2018KY4249","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2018KY4251","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2018KY4253","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O157775/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O157775","accessionNumber":"LOAN:GILBERT.190:1, 2-2008","objectType":"Table","titles":[{"title":"The Flora of Two Sicilies","type":"assigned by artist"}],"summaryDescription":"Micromosaics developed into a popular Roman souvenir in the 19th century. The works shown here are among the most ambitious works ever created in this technique which uses minuscule glass pieces just as a painter uses brush-strokes.\r\n\r\nCavaliere Michelangelo Barberi (1787-1867) trained as a painter and mosaicist. He nonetheless postulated that technical perfection was not an aim in itself, but rather a ‘service to Rome’ and Italy. The ancient art form mosaic, its revival and further evolution were part of a revolutionary message: at a time when Italians were fighting for political union, Barberi’s monumental tables brought together iconic views showcasing the shared cultural identity of Italy and its ancient roots. \n\r\nThe two Sicilies consisted of the southern Italian kingdom around Naples and the island of Sicily. The six Sicilian and Neapolitan landscapes and their lush vegetation shown on the table top are labelled in the border. Ruled by the Bourbons from 1731, the two states were officially united in 1816. \n\nThe table was commissioned by the Russian Tsar Nicholas I (reigned 1825-55), and shows the profile of his) for his daughter Olga, depicted in the centre. Olga briefly lived in Sicily and in her diary, she described the Sicilian plants and flowers used to treat her mother’s illness during their stay. Barberi’s workshop carefully reproduced these plants micromosaic.\r\n\r\nSir Arthur Gilbert and his wife Rosalinde formed one of the world’s great decorative art collections, including silver, mosaics, enamelled portrait miniatures and gold boxes.  Arthur Gilbert donated his extraordinary collection to Britain in 1996.","physicalDescription":"Circular micromosaic tabletop featuring views of six landscapes in Southern Italy framed by foliage. A mosaic ribbon border is inlaid in mosaic with names of the sites in capital letters. In the centre of the tabletop on a sky-blue ground is a profile of the Grand Duchess Olga (daughter of Tsar Nicholas I). The chased gilt-bronze base consists of a four-sided pyramidical pedestal supported by four lion's paw feet below lion masks, all on an incurved four-sided plinth.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Barberi, Michelangelo","id":"A8115"},"association":{"text":"maker","id":"AAT251917"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"mosaic glass","id":"AAT260731"},{"text":"gilt-bronze","id":"x35084"}],"techniques":[{"text":"micromosaic","id":"x42499"},{"text":"gilding","id":"AAT53789"},{"text":"casting","id":"AAT53104"},{"text":"chasing","id":"AAT54016"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Micromosaic with cast and chased gilt-bronze support.","categories":[{"text":"Furniture","id":"THES48948"},{"text":"Metalwork","id":"THES48920"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"MET","id":"THES48599"},"images":["2009CC8159","2009CR4067","2009CP2636","2018KY4243","2018KY4245","2018KY4247","2018KY4249","2018KY4251","2018KY4253"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"72","id":"THES49722"},"free":"","case":"CA007","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"001","id":"THES340976"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"001","id":"THES340976"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"tabletop","id":""}],[{"text":"bases (object components)","id":"AAT1656"}],[{"text":"gilt frame","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Rome","id":"x29106"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1850","earliest":"1845-01-01","latest":"1854-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Diameter","value":"106","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"79.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Measured by Issy Warnham 20/12/23","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"The names of the sites inscribed read 'POMPEIA', 'NAPOLI', 'PESTUM', TAORMINA', 'PALERMO', 'TINDARI'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":""}],"objectHistory":"Provenance: Tsar Nicholas I.  Sale, Sotheby Parke-Bernet, Monaco, lot 639, 06/06/1981.\n\nHistorical significance: Nicholas I visited Italy in 1845 and the table known as 'The beautiful sky of Italy' made by Michelangelo Barberi and shown at the 1851 Great Exhibition in London recorded the Italian cities which the Tsar visited (see LOAN:Gilbert.894-2008).","historicalContext":"The table was commissioned by the Russian Tsar Nicholas I (reigned 1825-55) and shows the profile of his second daughter Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna (1822-1892, later Queen Olga of Württemberg) in the centre.","briefDescription":"Circular table with Flora of the Two Sicilies, Michelangelo Barberi, Rome, ca.1850.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"<u>Art at Auction:  The Year at Sotheby's</u>.  London; New York: Sotheby & Co.,1980-81, p. 436."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Petochi, Domenico et al. <u>I mosaici minuti romani dei secoli XVIII e XIX</u>. Rome: A.B.E.T.E. c.1981, fig. 41."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"'Le mostre: i che si portavano in tasca'. <u>FMR</u>, November, 1986, No. 66. [Milan] : Franco Maria Ricci, ill. p. 220."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Gabriel, Jeanette Hanisee. 'Mosaic Tables in the Gilbert Collection'. <u>The Antique Collector</u>, vol. 60, November 1989, fig. 6."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Gabriel, Jeanette Hanisee with contributions by Anna Maria Massinelli and essays by Judy Rudoe and Massimo Alfieri. <u>Micromosaics: The Gilbert Collection</u>. London: Philip Wilson Publishers Ltd. in association with The Gilbert Collection, 2000. 310 p., ill. Cat. no. 32, pp. 86-87. ISBN 0856675113."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Schroder, Timothy, ed. <u>The Gilbert Collection at the V&A</u>. London (V&A Publishing) 2009, p. 76, plate 58. ISBN9781851775934"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Branchetti, Maria Grazia. 'Il romanticismo a tessere', <u>Italian Antiques</u>, no. 15, April, 1992, ill. p. 83."}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[{"text":"Italy","id":"x28927"},{"text":"Pompeii","id":"x39993"},{"text":"Naples (city)","id":"x32548"},{"text":"Pesto","id":"x40958"},{"text":"Taormina","id":"x32929"},{"text":"Palermo","id":"x38812"},{"text":"Tindari","id":"x44686"},{"text":"Sicily","id":"x29142"}],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["LOAN:GILBERT.190:1-2008","LOAN:GILBERT.190:2-2008","LOAN:GILBERT.190:3-2008"],"accessionNumberNum":"190","accessionNumberPrefix":"LOAN:GILBERT","accessionYear":2008,"otherNumbers":[{"type":{"text":"Arthur Gilbert Number","id":"THES50383"},"number":"MM 272"},{"type":{"text":"Arthur Gilbert Number","id":"THES50383"},"number":"MM 2"}],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE","tabletop","base"],"assets":["2024PB3641"],"recordModificationDate":"2026-05-18","recordCreationDate":"2008-06-26","availableToBook":false}}