The messenger Mercury, one of the Olympian gods, carries a herald’s staff and wears a winged helmet and sandals. This painting probably adorned the case of an astronomical clock, with Mercury symbolising one of the seven celestial bodies of ancient cosmology that were held to influence human character. The lion contemplating its reflektion could represent the choleric temperament, and perhaps also the astrological sign of Gemini. The elongated proportions are typical of 16th-century Mannerist painting.