Button, Rome, ca. 1850

In Britain, decorative buttons were usually reserved for evening wear. A set like this (with ten buttons and two studs) would have been used to decorate a gentleman's waistcoat and dress shirt. Ten buttons would have been the maximum number required by double-breasted styles. The two studs fastened to the front of the shirt would have been visible just above his waistcoat.

The term 'micromosaic' is used to describe mosaics made of the smallest glass pieces. Some micromosaics contain more than 5000 pieces per square inch. The earliest attempts at micromosaic revealed visible joins between the pieces (known as tesserae) and a lack of perspective. Later artists such as Antonio Aguatti made huge advances in micromosaic technique, resulting in renderings that were truer to life. Glass micromosaic technique developed in the 18th century, in the Vatican Mosaic Workshop in Rome, where they still undertake restoration work today.

Sir Arthur Gilbert and his wife Rosalinde formed one of the world's great decorative art collections, including silver, mosaics, enamelled portrait miniatures and gold boxes. Arthur Gilbert donated his extraordinary collection to Britain in 1996. One of a set of twelve buttons and studs with monuments of Rome in micromosaic, with black glass surrounds.