Hardy heroine takes time with artistic piecework (7)

I believe the answer is:

tessera

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'artistic piecework' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.

'hardy heroine takes time' is the wordplay.
'hardy heroine' becomes 'tess' (in Tess of the d'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy novel).
'takes' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'time' becomes 'era' (era is a kind of time).
'tess'+'era'='TESSERA'

'with' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for tessera that I've seen before include "Small stone for mosaics" , "Bit of mosaic" , "password" , "Piece of picture" , "Mosaic stone" .)

I've seen this clue in The Globe and Mail.

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