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What is describe?

This is a word used for small glass tiles which are combined to make intricate designs in Micro Mosaic, Mosaic and Pietra Dura Jewelry, which were very popular with Italian artisans. The plural of the word is often used, tesserae, since the tiles are used in combination with each other.

In the oldest forms know, the mosaics tiles were formed using pebbles that were naturally colored, but by about 200 BCE intentionally designed tesserae were being used. In these tesserae, marble or limestone was cut into small cubes that were then arranged into the mosaic design. Much later, the tesserae were made from colored glass. This is the type of tiles that we have come to know and recognize when used in Italian micro mosaic jewelry.

The size of the tiles determines what the mosaic style is called. They range from micro mosaics, where the smallest tesserae were used, through medium sized tiles, which were used in mosaic jewelry, through to Pietra Dura, where the largest tiles were used.

Examples of Tesserae:

The following are examples of the various styles of mosaic jewelry and shows the differences between the tesserae. You can click on the pictures to get a better idea of the size of the tiles.

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