Amulet with Coat of Arms

Silver amulet typical of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Italian Jewish homes. This example is unusual in that it contains an unidentified family coat of arms whose main feature is a rampant lion holding a stalk of some sort of grain. Most often these amulets contained a piece of parchment inscribed with the same inscription as the parchment in a mezuzah; however, the inscribed parchment is missing from this amulet. Venice, Italy, ca. 1750.