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| | | POPE CLEMENT XI EMBASSY COACH – of the Ambassador | | | | | | |  | | 18th Century (1716)
Triumphal vehicle.
Italian work, made in Rome
Inv. nº 9
Dim: 677x245x358 cm
It comprised part of the group of five thematic coaches and ten accompanying coaches that were in the procession of the Embassy sent to the Pope in 1716 by King João V.
The decoration glorified the King of Portugal, Lord of Navigation and the ambassador Rodrigo Anes de Sá Menezes, Marquis of Fontes, rode in it for his solemn entrance to the Holy See.
It has an open body, in the so-called Roman style, covered with gold canvas.
It has gilt carved wood sculptures in Baroque style with symbols portraying, among others, the Navigation and Conquest, the two aspects of the discoveries.
The interior is lined with gold canvas and the floor is inlaid with ebony and ivory. The front part has the figure of Silenus between Minerva and Hope.
On the rear Thetis, the “Navigation”, draws routes on a globe while a Triton that emerges from the water holds a mariner’s compass. In the lower centre is the figure of Adamastor recalling the dangers through which the Portuguese had to go. | | |  | |
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