Shield withdrawn from Pallas Pacifera

Like the helmet and the mace, this shield is one of the ornaments that were removed from the Pallas Pacífera in the main courtyard of the Casa de Pilatos in Seville in 1957. Oval in shape, it has a sinusoidal profile with very pronounced transverse and longitudinal curves. Its decoration alternates between bas-relief geometric motifs on the contours and figurative ones in mid-relief. The central motif is the head of Medusa, a gift from Perseus to the goddess Athena, flanked at the top by snakes and at the bottom by two griffins. A ducal crown, framed by the geometric bas-reliefs surrounding Medusa, suggests that it was commissioned by the first or third Duke of Alcalá. On the back, the piece still has two grips and the piece of arm that had to be added to Pallas Pacifera to put it on.