A Holy water gilt bronze stoup

Mercury-gilt bronze, tin soldering
Late 16th century
h. 17 cm (6.5 in.)

A holy water stoup in mercury-gilt bronze, composed of several separately gilt parts joined by tin soldering. The chased decoration on the quaterfoils and base carries echoes of late Gothic — rosettes and compartments — alongside Renaissance scrollwork. Two of the compartments bear an applied medium-relief figure depicting the same man in late 16th-century dress, wearing a ruff and hat. Their presence, surprising on a liturgical object, may be explained by a heraldic function intended by its patron.