AN ITALIAN GOLD AND ENAMEL BROOCH

The monogram of the Greek letters Chi and Rho was used as a symbol of Christ in Christian art from the fourth century. Catellani was known for incorporating ancient, medieval, and modern intaglios and cameos, as well as Egyptian scarabs and micromosaics into their pieces. The firm was the first to place micromosaics, often with Early Christian, Byzantine, and Egyptian designs, in archaeological style frames.
In early Rome a dead owl nailed to the door of a house averted all evil that it supposedly had earlier caused. To hear the hoot of an owl presaged imminent death. The deaths of Julius Caesar, Augustus, Commodus Aurelius, and Agrippa were apparently all predicted by an owl. "...yesterday, the bird of night did sit Even at noonday, upon the market place, Hooting and shrieking", Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act 1, Scene 3.