This is a bronze medal made by Fra Antonio da Brescia in the late 15th or early 16th century in Venice, Italy. The medal is an obverse only which represents Simone Michiel wearing the beretta, with a legend. Fra Antonio da Brescia was active between 1487 and 1513. His works are not dated but due to the depicted persons the time is identifiable. He was apparently active in Brescia, Padua, Treviso, Venice and Verona.
It was bought from the Soulages collection.
Jules Soulages (1812-1856) was a collector of French and Italian Renaissance art. After his death his collection was acquired by the Museum. Born in Toulouse in 1803, Jules Soulages practised as a lawyer in Paris and was founding member of the Société Archeologique du Midi de la France. He created an extensive collection of French and Italian Renaissance decorative art from 1825, comprising around 750 objects, including furniture, glass, ceramics, bronzes, enamels and ivories. In the late 1840s Soulages moved back to Toulouse, where Henry Cole viewed his collection in 1855. Subsequent sale negotiations led to the production of a catalogue and two exhibitions in England at the Museum of Ornamental Art at Marlborough House, and at the Manchester Art Treasures exhibition respectively, both enhancing the celebrity of the collection, and resulting in its acquisition for the South Kensington Museum. Soulages died on 13 October 1857, aged 54.