The circular metal plates attached to the handles of these wafering irons are decorated with, on one plate, a central shield with a coat of arms depicting a hand grasping a baton and two initials N and L. The perimeter bears the inscription NICOLO E PAULINA LUGLI. The facing plate has the initials N, P and L. These inscriptions suggest the irons were made to create decorative wafers for Nicolo and Paulina's wedding feast.

Wafering irons are long-handled iron tongs with circular or rectangular plates. These plates are engraved, incised or punched with designs and inscriptions which would be impressed into the wafer when in use. The long handles serve to keep the user at a safe distance from the hot fire. Their use originated in Umbria in Italy in the later fifteenth-century. The irons were greased and heated, batter was poured on and they were pressed together, so that the decoration in relief transferred onto the cooked wafer. The grease used to make the wafers may have helped to prevent rust on the irons.

Some irons were used to make Eucharistic wafers for the Mass and are decorated with religious imagery. Many other surviving irons were used to make wafers or waffles (cialde or cialdoni) to be eaten at weddings, baptisms, and festivals, particularly on the Sunday before Lent. Thin decorated wafers were served at the end of a festive meal with candied fruit, spiced wine and nuts. Recipes for wafers can be found in cookery sources from the late fourteenth century such as the Menagier de Paris. Ingredients include flour and water but might also include eggs, sugar, salt, rose water, oil or lard as well as spices for flavouring. These wafers could be eaten individually or put together in great, theatrical creations which could include up to twenty thousand wafers.