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Amulets: Ancient, Medieval, and Oriental: Catherine

A remarkable talismanic bracelet owned by Catherine de' Medici was set with a skull-fragment and with a representation of a "main-de-gloire." This is described in the catalogue made in 1786 of M. d'Ennery's collection. The settings of the bracelet, ten in number, comprised the following objects, to each of which was probably ascribed some special significance and virtue. An oval "eagle-stone" (aetites), on which was graven in intaglio a winged dragon; above this figure was the date 1559, the year in which the bracelet was composed and that of the death of Catherine's husband, Henri II. An octagonal agate, traversed by a number of tubular apertures, the orifices of which could be seen on either side of the stone.

A very fine oval onyx of three colors, bearing graven on its edge the following names of angels: Gabriel, Raphael, Michael, Uriel. A large oval turquoise with a gold band.

A piece of black and white marble.

An oval brown agate, with a caduceus, a star and a crescent engraved in intaglio on one of its faces, and on its edge the name Jehovah and certain talismanic characters; on the other face were figured the constellation Serpens, the zodiacal sign Scorpio and the Sun, around which were the six planets.

An oblong section of a human skull.

A rounded piece of gold on the convex side of which was graven in relief the "hand of glory" (main-de-gloire); on the concave side appeared the Sun and Moon done in repousse work.