Plaquettes are small plaques 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 purposes. They also inspired designs in other media, from architecture to bookbindings. Caradosso served at the Milanese court of Ludovico Sforza (‘Il Moro’) from 1480 and became his personal goldsmith and jeweller. Copies of this plaquette were ‘admired with the utmost enthusiasm throughout Italy.’ A silver version formed part of a casket and the design also appeared in architecture.

Caradosso (b.ca. 1452-1526/7) was an elaborate Italian goldsmith, coin- and gem-engraver, jeweller, medallist and dealer. Son of the goldsmith Gian Maffeo Foppa, with whom he served at the Milanese court. After the fall of Ludovico il Moro in 1500, Caradosso remained for some years in Lombardy before moving to Rome in 1505, where he received substantial commissions, from the popes and the papal court. To his contemporaries, Caradosso was most famous as a jeweller. None of his jewellery works can be identified but his career can be traced from 1495 when he designed a gorget for Ludovico il Moro, until 1524, when he made a tabernacle for the Volto Santo in St Peter’s. His most famous work was a papal tiara made for Julius II in 1509-10. He carved gemstones with such skill that they were mistaken for antique works.