MICROMOSAIC "THE DOVES OF PLINY" WITHIN FRAME Rectangular micromosaic plaque depicting the well-known decorative scene "Pliny's Doves" on a bronze frame, c. 9.5x8 cm, gr. 160 "DOVES OF PLINY" FRAMED MICROMOSAIC The compositional scheme taken up by the mosaic derives from a famous example preserved in the Capitoline Museums, found by Cardinal Giuseppe Alessandro Furietti (1685-1764) in 1737, during the excavations started at Villa Adriana, recognising that work as the masterpiece of Sosus of Pergamum (2nd century BC), mentioned by Pliny the Elder in his Naturalis Historia. The name is due to the four doves depicted resting on the edge of a gilded bronze cantaro filled with water, from which one of them is drinking.