One entire room is devoted to these strange works of art. They are miniature mosaics, and there are vast numbers of them in the Vatican. They are exactly what the name implies.

And I do mean miniature. My finger is, of course, on the glass, so it's really about three inches closer than the piece and thus appears much bigger.

The subject matter varies, but a couple of them depict ruins around Rome.

Animals are a common theme, and several of them show different kinds of dogs. This one appears to be a Tibetan spanial.

Some sort of setter. This one is so finely detailed as to be difficult to identfy as a mosaic, even at full resolution.

Most likely a Springer spanial. And yes, swans really are far too large for any sensible Springer to take on!

The obligatory rabbit photo.

This one seemed to be the masterpiece among masterpieces in this collection. Not only is this piece amazingly rendered in this medium, but it would not be as good if rendered in any other medium. The use of lighting is brilliant, too.