Plaquette, gilded bronze, depicting an antique sacrifice, probably by Valerio Belli, Italy, ca. 1500-1550

An oval plaquette in gilded bronze. In the centre a garlanded altar surrounded by six male and female figures, one playing a lyre, one offering a burning censer and others carrying branches, and thyrsus and other offerings. In the background an arch supported on columns and decorated with floral swags.

Salting Bequest

From the Salting bequest.

Historical significance: Probably moulded from an impression of a hardstone intalio engraving, possibly by Valerio Belli. The same image exists in Tassie's casts (no.8391) where it is listed as from a (?) rock crystal in a Florentine cabinet. One of a group of plaquettes of the same subject after Valerio Belli, this plaquette seems to combine elements from the Museum's glass paste version (A.17-1921), and the medal reverse listed in Kris (no.208) in the Münzkabinett, Vienna. It is suggested by Lippert that a version in Berlin is cast from an engraved gem which he ascribes to Belli. For other versions and discussion see Burns et al, 2000.

Shows how images known from engraved gems and hardstones persisted and often appeared again in the form of bronze plaquettes and small reliefs.

Plaquettes are small reliefs made of bronze, brass, lead or precious metals. They originated in the 1440s with the desire to reproduce coins and hardstone engravings from ancient Greece and Rome. Some were made as collector's pieces, to be viewed and displayed in private, and others for practical or devotional purposes, such as decorations for caskets, ink-stands and paxes. Belli spent the most important part of his career in Rome, working for two successive popes. Almost all of his bronze plaquettes are cast from his engravings in rock crystal or hardstone. The bronze would have been cast from a plaster or brass mould made from an original hardstone engraving.

A.480-1910