Bell

Hand bell with ferrule and remains of a handle. Decorated on the crown with fine filigree scroll with two cartouches inscribed 'A.M'. On the body, between fine and double mouldings, the inscription PVLSV MEO SERVOS VOCO (with my ring I call the servants); two coats of arms (party per pale five cinqufoils) supported by two putti and surmounted by a winged cherub head, with two vases below the cartouche, all flanked by outward-facing leaping dogs and inward-facing leaping antelopes; this designalternated with a complicated motif of a cherub head benetah a baldacchio flanked by foliated stems and vases containing plumes on which cranes (?) are mounted all above a yoke-like scroll; below this motif are two snails (?) and a crab (?). On the sound bow (beneath a double moulding) is overlapping, downward-facing acnanthus. The bell has an iron clapper, possibly original. A foundry mark appears just above the sound bow on the interior: The inscri[ton has been cut into the metal, a difficult feat in light of the high tin content, and it may therefore be of later date.