Seal of Duke Alessandro de' Medici
by VETRI, Domenico de', Quartz, partially gilded and enameled silver, height 9 cm
The quartz seal is engraved with a figure of Hercules, mythical hero symbolically associated with the Florentine council and republic since medieval time, and from the second half of the fifteenth century, the symbol of the Medici. The seal was made for Duke Alessandro (1512-1537). He was succeeded by Cosimo after his assassination in 1537, and the Medici emblem or ring with three coloured feathers, repeated three times on the elaborate handle refers to him.