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One of the major glyptic artists working in Milan during the second half of the sixteenth century, Fontana engraved exquisitely luminous Late Mannerist scenes from classical mythology and biblical subjects in rock crystal. The Metropolitan Museum's medallion is one of a series twelve rock crystals (of which six survived) engraved with episodes from the story of Hercules; the medallions were removed from a casket, now destroyed, that once belonged to the Gonzaga duke of Mantua, Vincenzo I (r. 1587-1612).
The casket, ornamented with gold and pearls, would have been highly valued as a splendid example of Milanese goldsmiths' work, as well as of intaglio engraving. A casket, set with Fontana's rock-crystal plaques and made for Albrecht V, duke of Bavaria (r. 1550-79), can still to be seen in the Schatzkammer of the Munich Residenz.
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