Bronze binding medallion in relief

Bronze binding medallion in relief

Italy

first quarter, 16th century

The medallion portrays the deified Julius Caesar, crowned with laurel, in right profile, paired with the augur’s crooked staff (lituus). An asterisk represents the comet seen after Caesar’s assassination. This image, derived from Medici intaglio gems, is found impressed on numerous Italian leather bindings dating from the late-1490s to the mid-1520s. The concave reverse is pressed into dampened leather to create the raised image on a binding’s cover.

Gift of Jonathan Kagan, 1995.

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