Westbank Antiques

Description

A very unusual item indeed.
I have never seen another like it.
There are many last supper plaques available, mass produced modern reproductions.
This is clearly a one off piece
19th Century or earlier bronze panel.
Portrait of Leonardo da Vinci set within a wreath with the last supper below.
The words Leonardo da Vinci PIT. S.A.M.P.
The detail is wonderful.
Another unusual feature of this panel is the snake eating a child top centre of panel (Biscione)

The emblem of the Visconti is the symbol of Milan
The Biscione ('large grass snake'), also known as the Vipera (‘viper’ or in Milanese as the Bissa), is a heraldic charge showing a blue serpent in the act of swallowing a human – usually a child, and sometimes described as a Moor. It has been the emblem of the Italian Visconti family for around a thousand years.

According to the legend, in the 1100s, Ottone Visconti, during the Second Crusade, led an army of Milanese citizens in the siege of Jerusalem, and challenged the cruel Saracen Voluce to a duel. Voluce’s coat of arms was a snake devouring a man. Ottone killed the Saracen, took his weapons and his symbol and brought it to Milan and decided to adopt the warrior’s coat of arm as his own. The symbol of the House of Visconti was born and, when the Visconti family gained control of Milan, the biscione became the symbol of the city. The man eaten by the snake was replaced by a red Saracen and later became a child, with the aim of showing the goodness of the Visconti’s snake.

This panel was once obviously set into a wall and still has the remains of plaster,cement to the reverse.
It would be make wonderful and unique piece of art when framed.

More images upon request

Size
Width 11.75 inches
Height 11 inches