An enseigne in the Victoria and Albert Museum--perhaps the most beautiful of all, and probably the work of a Florentine goldsmith--represents the head of John the Baptist on a charger. The _caput Johannis in disco_, a favourite subject in mediæval art both in painting and sculpture, was also popular for personal ornaments. This symbol of the Precursor was no doubt phylacteric, for the efficacy of his intercession was most highly esteemed against epilepsy and other disorders. The enseigne in question, contemporary with one described as a "St. John's head in a dish" in Henry VIII's possession in 1530, is of gold, one and five-eighths of an inch in diameter, and shaped like a circular dish. It has a corded edge, and round the rim, in pierced and raised letters, now only partially enamelled, are the following words: NON · SUREXSIT · INTER · NATOS · MULIERUM. The sunk centre is covered with translucent ruby enamel, and in the middle is the head of the saint in gold and white enamel. The head is delicately modelled, and such care has the artist displayed in its execution that he has shown above the eyebrow the gash which Herodias, according to the legend,[147] on receiving the head from Salome, inflicted on it with a pin from her hair, or with a knife seized from the table where the feast had taken place (Pl. XXIX, 1). [147] This legend is the subject of a striking picture by Quentin Matsys (itself rich in representation of jewellery), which forms the left wing of the magnificent "Deposition" (No. 245), in the Antwerp Museum. A famous relic, the skull of the saint in Amiens Cathedral, exhibits a hole over the eyebrow. [Illustration: _PLATE XXIX_ RENAISSANCE ENSEIGNES] All the four enseignes last mentioned are examples of the method of executing these ornaments described in Cellini's famous treatise[148] on the goldsmith's art, where he extols the goldsmith Caradosso as a craftsman skilled above all others in their production. The work is repoussé; the St. John's head being also worked into full relief by this process, and then applied to the dish. Such repoussé figures were frequently attached to an independent background formed of lapis-lazuli, agate, or some other precious substance. [148] _I trattati dell' oreficeria._ Ed. Milanesi, 1857. Chapter on Minuteria.