Pendant with Marguerite de Valois

The pendant portrays Margaret of France, the daughter of Francis I of France and, in 1559, the wife of Duke Emanuel Philibert of Savoy. We see her wearing a sumptuous dress and a characteristic coiffure with a net cap fastened to her head by a string of set stones. The practice of sculpting unusual, pre-cious and rare materials in relief became commonplace in the Cinquecento as a result of the interest of princes and rulers in unique, amazing objects (rariora et mirabilia). This type of imagery is similar to that of portraits on coins and medals