UNKNOWN MASTER, Italian
(active c. 1430 in Florence)

Panel with the Emblem of the Arte del Cambio

c. 1430
Pietra serena, 68 x 50 cm
Museo di San Marco, Florence

The relief shows the emblem of the Arte del Cambio (Bankers' Guild), consisting of an oval shield covered with coins hung on a band from the neck of a lion and surrounded by branches with rich, fleshy leaves and a flower at the tip. The Bankers' was one of the seven major guilds that governed Florence and had its headquarters in that part of the old centre of the city which was demolished between 1881 and 1895.