Gilded bronze seal matrix of Jean du Cigne. Woman... Lot 41

Gilded bronze seal matrix of Jean du Cigne. Woman dressed in a long dress, her left hand resting on a shield with a coticelled fleurdelisee band; on her right, crowning a trunk, a helmet with a dexterous crest holding a sword brandishing a sword accosted with two palms, points towards the sky; around a banner with inscriptions in Gothic letters s: iohan: from /. cigne; grip in the form of a pinnacle tenon pierced with a four leaves. Second quarter of the 15th century Height: 3.9 cm - Diameter: 3.2 cm Source: this matrix was found during an excavation before 1863 in Saint-Etienne-du- Rouvray (Seine-Maritime) Bibliography: A. Barabé, Recherches historiques sur le tabellionage royal principalement en Normandie, Rouen, 1863, pp. 364-365, n°5-9, pl. XVII. Jean is the son of Bernardo Chini from a renowned family in Florence who provided several Prioresses of the Arts in Santa Maria del Porto. This Bernardo, actually known as Bernardo di Cino († ap. 1398), contributed to the financial support of Charles V who, to thank him, granted him the status of Bourgeois of Paris in 1379. The king then did so as Sergeant-at-Arms, then ennobled him and his descendants, granting him the right to bear arms with fleurs-de-lis as seen on this rare matrix of the seal of a civilian figure. Web link: http://www.sigilla.org/fr/ sgdb/sceau-type/38676