Some time ago I bought out the drawers of an old jeweler's workbench in Paris, and there were lots of gorgeous century-old hand carved Italian cameos and micro mosaics, all little works of art, and all passed down through generations of goldsmiths, jewelers. I love that, in France, many generations of a family stay in the family business, apprentice and eventually take it over, passing one generation to the next. This sale marked the closing, end of the line, and there were incredible treasures to be had. I only bought a few lots, and this is one. I've had them for a couple decades, myself. I'm nostalgic about such things. But it's time to part with my own collections and I will offer each individually. Someone in Italy should buy them, have their goldsmith make up the mounts and offer them for the monstrously high prices they charge there for such Grand Tour souvenirs. It's interesting, travelers would buy these uncounted, take them to French or English goldsmiths to create the mounts after they got back home.
Salvage to good condition for age and type. As you can see, the dancing woman is in colored glass tesserae, all of which are in place but are not polished and flat in the onyx basin. The reason is the plaque has been broken or cracked at one time. Still a little work of art, the jeweler has saved it by addition of a solid metal backing. This one is to enjoy but not to be mounted, the flaws - just enjoy the plaque in your own collection and display, as I have. You see where the crack/break is with the x marks.
