Keywords: Rare Old Catholic Antique Italian Millefiori Art Cross Italy Vintage
This Gorgeous Antique Italian Millefiori Mosaic Art Cross is of Italian Vintage.

It represents Pope Pius XI in the Vatican in Roma, who reigned from 1929 to 1939.

The cross measures 4" or 10 cm tall.
It is in very good condition, just some minor signs of use.

A Brief History of Micro Mosaics

Micro mosaic in Salty Filati is a prestigious, antique technique that developed in Rome between the XVI and XVII centuries. Since 1727 it was used by Mosaic Masters from REVERENDA FABBRICA DI SAN PIETRO in Vatican City. It was probably invented by the mosaic master Giacomo Raffaelli, one of the most important mosaic artist living between 1700 and 1800.

Originated in 16th century, it was an attempt to become independent from Venice, which had been the centre of glass mosaic material manufacturing. The Vatican's own glass factory carried out a research program which led to the production of no less than 28.000 glass mosaic colors.

It was however, in Smalto (glass mosaic) manufacturing technique that the Vatican artisans attained their greatest achievements and fostered further developments. This was made it possible because a Roman glass kiln owner, Alessio Mattioli experimented on glass Madritinte (master tints) pancakes, namely colored glass paste, containing a high percentage of coloring agents.

To make " Smalti Filati", depending on the shade of color to be obtained, bits of different master tints are mixed together and then melted over an open flame. The molten mass is the "spun" or drawn by means of tweezers into threads of the desired thickness.

Filato rods, drawn into strings of 20 - 30 inches and varying in thickness between 1 and 4 mm, do not require annealing and are simply allowed to cool for a few minutes before being broken up. With this type of smalto manufacture, a virtually unlimited range of color shades can be obtained simply by mixing a different variety of master tints.

At present, the Vatican Studio, who first took advantage from Mattioli discoveries, has about 28.000 colors in stock.

The "smalti filati" technique made it possible for mosaics makers to execute copies of painted originals on an even smaller scale and eventually even to produce actual "miniature mosaics" with "tesserae", less than 1 mm thick, which gained widespread popularity in the first half of 18th century.

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Please email me with questions about this item or payment options

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Items I offer for sale are general antiques, Vintage or used merchandise. They may have normal/typical wear consistent with age.

Any significant damage will be shown in the pictures and mentioned in the item description.

The pictures tell the story, sold as it is in the pictures! 

We do are very best but are not perfect. So if you receive an item that does not meet your satisfaction, please contact us.
We will try to do everything we can, to make you a happy satisfied customer.

What else can I say, email me with any questions or suggestions for better descriptions of these items!

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The thing about Offers and Counter offers.

In case you are thinking about making an offer on this piece please consider this:

Like in most antique stores I can sometimes go to about 10% in giving discounts on items that linger longer on Ebay.

My position as dealer is very compatible I have to keep my prices low as possible. There is not that much room for negotiation.

I cannot accept any offers for the first 3 months this item is listed.

I list many of items every day. Most of them sell pretty quick usually within this 3 month period. But, I don't know if it will sell.

I often have the “make offer” button placed in the listings, so I do not have to go back every time a listing lingers longer on eBay than usual. It simply is too much work to have to reverse those items.

If I can't honor your offer, please think about this and don't be offended. Just try again, keeping this in mind.

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Thank you for shopping with us and please take a minute or two to check out some of the other items in this store. I will do my very best to make this a pleasant experience for you.

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Ich werde mein Bestes tun, um diese Bestellung zu Ihrer vollen Befriedigung zu erledigen. Wir danken Ihnen, dass Sie bei uns eingekauft haben. Nehmen Sie sich doch ein paar Minuten Zeit und schauen sich noch einige andere Artikel in meinem Laden an.

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Je vais faire de mon mieux pour que cette commande soit une experience satisfaisante pour vous. Nous vous remercions d'avoir choisi ce magasin, et vous demandons de prendre quelques minutes pour jeter un coups d'oeuil sur les autres articles.

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Gracias por comprar con nosotros y por favor tome un minuto o dos para retirar algunos de los otros artículos en esta tienda. Haré mi mejor hacer de esto una experiencia agradable para usted.

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I love running my own small business, as I enjoy sharing my love of pretty items with others.  

When you purchase an item from me, rest assured that I only sell things I treasure myself.  

I mostly deal in unique one of a kind items.  

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No "Restocking Fee" will be charged if return is justified by a serious mistake in this listing or an item returned due to damage during shipment.  This, with the exception of any damage already mentioned or shown in the listing.