This beautiful artwork bearing the figure of Saint Michael reflects the distinctive craftsmanship of the workshops of Trapani, in Sicily, where a flourishing production of coral-enriched gilt copper developed between the 16th and 18th centuries. Tiny fragments of coral, carved into a variety of shapes, were set into a ground of gilt copper, sometimes enhanced with enamel, to achieve an endless range of effects. Ever since Antiquity, coral was prized as a precious material believed to hold talismanic and medicinal powers, said to have sprung from the blood of the Gorgon Medusa after she was slain by Perseus. Trapani artists produced mostly small religious and secular works, crucifixes, monstrances, holy-water stoups, as well as vases and ewers destined for European courts.