19th Grand Tour Paperweight Marble Pietra Dura Mosaic Souvenir

Paperweight in precious marble and pietra dura stones, a souvenir of the Grand Tour, Rome, 19th century.
Made of white Carrara marble with geometric inlays of porphyry, giallo antico marble, and lapis lazuli.

The Grand Tour is a kind of secular pilgrimage, experienced as an indispensable cultural baptism by the European elites of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Rome is the privileged destination of that itinerary. As with any self-respecting pilgrimage, those who undertake it feel the need to bring back tangible signs of their journey. While Catherine II of Russia commissioned a life-size copy of Raphael's Vatican Loggias for the Hermitage, requiring a veritable army of copyists, even those who could not afford such large purchases made efforts to acquire originals or copies of ancient works of art and as many souvenirs as possible from their Italian Grand Tour. It marks the birth of the antique and beautiful industry, a curious phenomenon of supply and demand for mementos of the Eternal City, around which a galaxy of professional figures is emerging, from excavation to restoration, appraisal, and trade.

Very good condition, with minor signs of aging.

Dimensions
H 14.5 cm
W 9 cm
D 1.7 cm