Micromosaic - also called minute mosaic or spun mosaic - is a mosaic production technique, presented for the first time in Rome in the Holy Year 1775, in the workshop of the mosaicist Giacomo Raffaelli, reaching its peak, for the quality of the works and for the creativity of the artists, in the mid-19th century.

The innovative micromosaic technique was made possible thanks to the production of minute tesserae and different shapes, suitable for the composition of small-sized artifacts, to be seen at close range, in the form of plates generally applied on snuffboxes or on table objects, more rarely set on brooches or grouped in series fomanti bracelets and necklaces.

During the nineteenth century, we also came to the production of paintings and table tops, in which the mosaicists could indulge themselves, with incredible virtuosity, in the reproduction of bucolic scenes, genre scenes, squares and monuments of Rome with realistic renders , thanks to the infinite shades of color guaranteed by the yarn technique.                                                                                                                                                                                
The subjects represented, no longer related to the religious sphere, were initially linked to the neoclassical taste for their allegories, finding their source of inspiration directly in the ancient. At a later stage the repertoire extended to the representation of flowers, animals and ruins grandly set in landscape scenes and lived with a lyricism of romantic extraction. With the consolidation in the repertoire of views of Rome, the genre acquired a more markedly "Roman" connotation.

 The first half of the nineteenth century was characterized by an evolution of the executive techniques, through the development of new types of dough and the use of even larger tiles, no longer just quadrilateral, as was the case initially, but with a different geometric shape. This allowed new and happier "light and dark" passages, which facilitated the rendering of flowers, trees, animals and architecture.

The international circulation of the most precious artifacts, donated by the Popes to diplomats and sovereigns on a State visit, further increased the prestige of the micromosaic, which became a favorite purchase of the rich and cultured travelers on the "Grand Tour" to Rome.

With the advance of the century and the succession of increasingly pressing demands from the market, faster and more hasty execution techniques spread, also through the use of preformed tiles, all to the detriment of quality. The production of standardized articles, no longer made entirely by hand, as a consequence of the industrial revolution, opened a phase of decadence in the field of applied arts, and therefore also of micromosaic.

The elements that make up the mosaic are represented by tiles, with reference to their outline which is normally quadrilateral. The tesserae are made of a glassy material called enamel, obtained from the fusion of silica, mixed with mineral components that give it its color, The enamel, melted in front of the flame, when it reaches about 800 degrees centigrade, becomes malleable and therefore susceptible to manipulation. It is the spinning phase in which, now as then, it is reduced into long and thin rods from which the artist, with the use of tweezers and files, obtains the small tiles. The tesserae thus obtained are housed inside supports, equipped with low edges, generally in copper or other metal, in marble, or in glass, in which the so-called Roman stucco, i.e. a very slow-setting mastic, is deposited, following in the realization phase a sketch that represents the image to be transferred and composed.