English: Originally painted in bright colors, many such reliefs graced the façades of the residences of wealthy Venetians in the 12th and 13th centuries. Their round shape probably continues an earlier tradition of decorating outside walls with inset ceramic plates. The marble of which they are made was brought by Venetian trading ships from Greece. Two companion pieces, with the same frames and diameter, can still be seen in Venice between the windows of a house at 1043 Calle de le Strazze. The exotic birds (probably parrots) flanking a tree here seem to allude to palace gardens, like the ones Venetian merchants would have seen in the East, and to the splendor and luxury associated with them.