Perhaps it can be assumed that the present lot was chosen for the usually romantic occasion of a marriage because of the wider metaphoric significance of the lamb as a symbol for innocence which, in the traditional religious belief, ended on a physical level only at the moment of a marriage. While some might argue that the star border around the lid imparts a circus-like atmosphere to the spectacle represented in the centre, the trailing ivy on the base, although poisonous as a plant, is in fact a symbol for fidelity, loyalty, faith and commitment.

Generally speaking, depictions of animals attacking prey date back to Roman antiquity and experienced a revival during Neoclassicism. As such, it is of course equally possible that the present lot was not chosen for the meaning of the subject matter, but more so for the aesthetic and technical quality, rarity and unusual combination of colours and design.

The intricate micromosaic plaque has been attributed to the Roman micromosaicist Giacomo Raffaelli. For another micromosaic by Raffaelli, representing an equally dramatic animalic feast of a hawk devouring a cockerel, see for example a gold box by Raffaelli in the Gilbert Collection (accession no. 471:1, 2-2008).