Watch List notes:

Venetian School, last quarter of the 16th Century, The Coronation of the Virgin, bronze plaquette, Christ and the Virgin in clouds surrounded by cherubs holding garlands and rosary beads; the plaquette set in a contemporary frame ornamented with scrollwork, swags of fruit and the top and bottom set with cherubs' heads; the top with ring for suspension and the back with engraved letters: A.N.M., 184mm x 129mm (Bange 944, set in frame as here; Scaglia IX, 24 (plaquette) and XIV, 19 (frame); cf. Molinier 573; Warren, Ashmolean, 415; Toderi, Bargello, 262; Vannel & Toderi, Bardini collection, 197), sometime cleaned but a very fine contemporary cast. After the battle of Lepanto in 1571 Pope Gregory XIII granted special status to the Festival of the Virgin of the Rosary and it is thought that these plaquettes which emphasise rosary beads date from this period. The meaning of the initials on the reverse of the present piece are not known and may possibly refer to its original owner.
(1500-2000 GBP)