The Betrayal of Christ

Born in Vicenza, Belli worked in Rome as a successful crystal and gem engraver, goldsmith, and medalist. His bronze plaquettes come almost without exception from crystal or hardstone carvings. This particular plaquette directly derives from a rock crystal intaglio by Belli bearing the same inscription in the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, which originally was mounted with two other oval medallions of Christ Carrying the Cross and the Entombment in the silver-gilt base of a rock crystal crucifix, also in the collection of the Vatican Library. This crucifix is generally identified as the one, according to Vasari, created for Clement VII for which Belli received a payment of 1,111 gold ducats in 1525.