Florence Baptistery
The attribution of a group of nielli, in particular some in the Bargello, is complicated by problems arising from the matching up of documentary records, and the remarks of Vasari and Benvenuto Cellini, with the surviving works. As mentioned above, in 1452 Maso made a niello silver pax for the Florence Baptistery, commissioned by the Arte di Calimala. In 1455 the guild ordered a second pax from another goldsmith, Matteo Dei. The subject of neither piece is known from the records. Two paxes with matching frames in the Bargello museum are thought to come from the baptistry, but their styles are considered too different to be by the same artist. One, of the "Coronation of the Virgin" is generally thought superior in quality and assigned to Finiguerra. The other shows a "Crucifixion", and is often thought to be Dei's piece of 1456.