This exquisite relief depicts an allegory, or symbolic representation, of Envy, one of the Seven Deadly Sins. Envy is represented by an old and emaciated woman with wings on her back and sagging breasts who is literally eating her heart out. The plaque is from a series on the Seven Deadly Sins for the decoration of a small chest or box. Silver is softer than bronze and permits the fine linear detail that makes the depiction so convincing.
As well as plaques and medals, Flötner made large-scale sculptures and designed woodcuts. He spent years in Italy and was one of the artists responsible for introducing the Renaissance style, based on classical antiquity, into Germany.
<bdi><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Peter_Fl%C3%B6tner" class="extiw" title="w:en:Peter Flötner"><span title="German sculptor">Peter Flötner</span></a>
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circa 1540 <div style="display: none;">date QS:P571,+1540-00-00T00:00:00Z/9,P1480,Q5727902</div> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Renaissance" class="extiw" title="w:en:Renaissance"><span title="cultural movement that spanned the period roughly from the 14th to the 17th century">Renaissance</span></a><div style="display: none;">era QS:P2348,Q4692</div>)
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