SteveM wrote:
It was common for city coins to be imprinted with the image of their patron saint, such as St. John on Florins given as example in another thread. As patron the saint is representative of the 'City'.
I agree. This accounts perfectly for the Milanese coin. The coin from Naples (
annunciation) and the Venetian Ducat (resurrection) use religious images that are quite generic and not connected to a specific region. I think the
ducat is particularly relevant in the context of World cards.
We have at least one example of a religious subject in tarot cards: the
Visconti-Sfoza Judgement, referred to by Ross in a previous post, in which God the Father is represented.
I attach an image from a nuptial "cassone" (Florence, early XV century): the Petrarchian triumph of Eternity is represented by Christ. The image is small but it is possible to see that also the symbols of the evangelists are present. The cassone is described in this
PDF document.
I could find a few pottery examples as well:
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Adoration of the Shepherds: XVI century dish
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Virgin Mary and Saints: XVII century tile (Ross has posted more tiles in previous posts)
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Saint John the Baptist as a child: Late XVI century fruit dish
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Saint Francis of Assisi: early XVI century bowl
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Cross, Saint Bernardino triagram and Virgin Mary monogram: 1750 ca This is a ceramic disc that, as suggested by Lorredan as a possible use of sacred images, was fixed above the entrance of the house in order to protect it.
My impression from these examples is that sacred images were rather common. Images of Jesus are also present in various objects (ceramic tiles, a coin, a nuptial cassone, a dish).
Marco