Hand bell, bell-metal, with the arms of the Lippomani, North Italian (probably Veneto), 1530-1570

Hand bell decorated with fine foliate scrolls framed by rows of beads on the flattend crown. On the return, egg and dart with dentils below. On the neck, is a raised legend. A rope band separates the waist, which is decorated with a cartouche bearing a coat of arms with three grotesque masks, from which emanate ropes and swags of tied bundles of fruit; varying bunches of grape, foliage and fruit are suspended from the beards; flanking the shields are two profile heads of classical figures, one an emperor facing to the left, the other Hercules wearing a lion skin facing to the right. On the sound bow, a row of downward-facing, overlapping acanthus.

Bought from the Soulages Collection for £3 in 1865.

This is a hand bell made in Italy in about 1530-1570. The inscription in this bell indicates that this was used for calling servants, belonging to the Lippomani family of Venice, whose arms were cast in with the bell: '[with] my ring I call your servants, o Lippomano'. The shape of the bell is rare and no other identical example has been found. The Lippomani family were a Venetian patrician family, who had several prominent members during the late 15th and, notably, the sixteenth century.

587-1865