Florentine mosaic

Detail of Florentine mosaic The Senses of Touch and Smell.

The gem of the Catherine Palace.

Four of these contained compositions made in Florence in the 1750s from coloured stones using the Florentine mosaic technique. They were allegorical depictions of the senses designed by Giuseppe Dzokki: Sight, Taste, Hearing and (together) Touch and Smell.

The art of Florentine mosaic, an "intarsio" or inlay of hard stones called" Commesso", is unique in the world.

Russian tradition of mosaic had started in Ural Region in XVIII century. The first masters had used valuable but never blocked rock breeds (malachite, lazurite, Kushkuldin jasper). As a basic plate they'd used turner produced forms of cutter stone or plate. To decorate it's possible to use not only marble or jasper but also semiprecious stones of Ural such as charoite, agate, aventurine, amazonite, onyx, ophicalcite, rhodonite, serpentine, fluoride.
The art of Florentine mosaic is alive. Old traditions are developed by contemporary masters. Application of modern diamond tools and polishers makes possible to receive the quality of stone processing that was impossible before.