Footed Bowl with Papal Arms (Coppa)

Made of clear, heavy glass, this bowl stands on a short, hollow foot. A "fish-scale" pattern in incised gold leaf and dots of colored enamel decorates the body of the vessel below the folded lip. The coat of arms in the center of the interior could belong to either of two sixteenth-century Medici popes, Pope Leo X or Clement VII, who used the same arms. A large number of plates, bowls, and other vessels with these arms were probably commissioned continuously during the two papacies.