Featured Mysterious lid? Saucer?

Hi all!
Another piece from my 90 years old friend she showed me for identification!
14cm (5.1/2") diameter, very light in hand, I can't tell if it is enamel on metal or clay...
The crest on it has what looks like a papal tiara, but I found nothing similar till now

Any help on this will be very appreciated

 

The papal tiara-like 'thing' has an angular line behind it, so I think a bishop's mitre.
Looks ceramic to me, Italy, Spain, Portugal maybe.
Possibly a plate for a ewer?
@Walter Del Pellegrino may know more about the origin.

 

Thank you AJ

of course, a mitre!
It is surprisingly light in hand, though it has some thickness, and as the edges have no nicks, it doesn't show the material under...
I don't feel it being older than 19TH, and agree with the South European look

 

Below the mitre is a St. Andrew's Cross/saltire. There's probably a technical term for what I can only see as 6 dots. Coat of arms of a diocese? Maybe always decorative, not functional. I don't know why it's unexpectedly light, but would make it less durable.

 

Yes, it would be the coat of arms of a diocese. Don't know the term for the dots either, heraldry seems to be a language of its own.

 

Yep, a st Andrew cross, I searched for that on heraldic sites!
The dots are called "besants" (kind of old coin name) or "tourteaux", that's a thing I learned today

Aahhh really codified, colors have a different name, and each part of the crest too...
Religious, certainly as there are fishes in the decor around, plus the mitre...
Thank you both for your searches

 

Ah, what is maybe a little later spelling is bezants. Painter wasn't very good at drawing circles! Does your friend remember how/where she acquired it? Souvenir of travels or local pride, i.e., French or from elsewhere? Seems when it is for a religious entity, it is more appropriately called a crest. Guess a bishop wouldn't need something to emblazon on a shield.

 

No, she doesn't remember buying it, but her husband and her inherited lots of things from relatives long time ago...
Is bezant used in English?
Still a mysterious crest and thingy

 

Italian, I would think. The six balls relate to the Medici family coat of arms.

Debora

 

There is a whole part of heraldry which is ecclesiastical, I just found that:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecclesiastical_heraldry

Thank you It can! Still exploring...

 

That is the modern English spelling. Eymology mentions besant as old French form. Named for coins from Byzantium.

And there were certainly enough Medici cardinals, as well as some Popes. They don't always seem to have been archbishops first, much less ordinary bishops.

 

Looks Italian, like the tin glazed earthenware armorial wares from Gubbio.
https://www.google.com/search?biw=320&bih=450&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=EsxvWqrHMsOxzwLkvq5Q&q=gubbio+armorial+tin+glaze

 

Kyra, from the ecclesiastical page in your link:


As Deborah said, coat of arms of the Medici. In this case Pope Leo XI.

 

High ecclesiastical office in those days was usually politics and money, religion played a minor role. Many church leaders had no idea of theology, canon law, etc.
Throughout most of their history the Medici were able to buy anything they wanted. There were three Medici popes and over 50 Medici cardinals.

 

I'd guess a souvenir piece with no real age to it. 1950s or later. Baroque style, but I can't see that rendering as being of the period.