Micro Mosaic

Several Examples of Micro Mosaic

At Couture Panache we are always expanding our knowledge of vintage jewelry, and one look that we really fancy is the stunning micro mosaic brooches of the late 19^th century. The term ‘micro mosaic’ was coined by Sir Arthur Gilbert in reference to the Roman practice of creating beautiful pictures with small glass bricks called ‘tesserae’. Micro mosaics hit the market in response to the booming Italian tourist trade in the early 1900's  and these treasures are still valued as items of high quality and craftsmanship. Victorian women loved their wearable art brooches and micro mosaic work fit the bill. Today these items are highly sought after and are still considered very panache. When evaluating a piece of micro mosaic there are three things to keep in mind. First is the number of pieces per inch - the higher the quality (and earlier the date) the smaller the pieces. Secondly is the quality of the material. Earlier and higher quality micro mosaics were made of marble, glass and stone while later and lower quality pieces utilized ceramic and plastics. And thirdly, the setting – the set of the mosaic varies from piece to piece but usually a finer setting yields a finer mosaic. We hope to have some for sale in our store soon!