English: Renaissance medallion head of a vir illustris with grotto-esque decorative sculpted wooden panel, circa 1550, on canopy of baptismal font, Church of St Mary the Virgin, Pilton, Devon.

See w:De viris illustribus; The subject of this variety of "Medallion Head" was discussed by Christina Juliet Faraday in connection with the Tudor carved wooden panelling formerly at Waltham Abbey, now owned by the V&A Musuem, on permanent loan to the Epping Forest District Museum:

Christina Juliet Faraday, Waltham Abbey Panelled Room, Essex, published in THE ESSEX SOCIETY FOR ARCHAEOLOGY & HISTORY Volume 7 · 2016[file:///C:/Users/Owner/AppData/Local/Temp/Faraday,%20Waltham%20Abbey%20Panelled%20Room,%20Essex,%20ESAH-2.pdf]

"The medallion profiles have their origins in the coins and medals of the ancient world and Renaissance, prized by Early Modern collectors. Though portrait medallions originated in fifteenth-century Italy, English examples owe a special debt to German medals, which are distinctly different from their Italian counterparts, usually made without inscriptions from stone or wooden models, with attention lavished on the individual’s features. Comparison of English medallion wall panels with wooden models for German medals reveals stylistic similarities, but further links can be made with Germanic costume, probably indicating that these forms were transmitted through Northern European prints or craftsmen. Many figures wear helmets with ‘sallets’, helmets pointed at the back to protect the neck in battle, popular in late fifteenth-century Germany but less so in England.56 Other figures wear vaguely classicising headgear, a reference to the antique origins of the medallion format. The generic nature of the portraits at Waltham resists Rhona Huggins’ suggestion that they represent real individuals, as is the case elsewhere: for example Haddon Hall, where dining room medallions may contain portraits of Sir George Vernon and his wife Margaret Talboys. One exception, however, may be the Waltham Abbey medallion formerly on the right of the overmantel, now in store, depicting a young man in Tudor clothes, possibly the patron. The majority of the panels probably represent loosely classical or Christian characters, especially heroes and heroines of classical mythology, akin to the uomini famosi and donne famose (famous men and women) schemes then-popular across Europe. These groups of virtuous individuals served as moral exempla, deriving from works such as Plutarch’s Mulierum virtutes and Boccaccio’s Famous Women. Sue Hedge has suggested that the vestry panelling now at Norwich Cathedral portrays two related themes, the Nine Worthies (famous men) and the Power of Women, but here the presence of labelled shields enables the specific identification of some figures. The lack of identifying attributes at Waltham Abbey makes such identifications impossible, but both schemes demonstrate ‘formulaic’ and ‘repetitious’ characters in ‘fossilized’ costume, suggesting allusions to historical and literary traditions rather than real contemporaries. Medallion heads are carved on font covers at Radbourne in Derbyshire and Pilton, Devon; choir-stalls at Christchurch in Hampshire and the Salkeld Screen at Carlisle Cathedral (a late example of the fashion, c.1540–1550). The bold simplicity of the medallions at Waltham Abbey is comparable to West Country examples at Great Fulford in Devon and the Sandford Orleigh overmantle in Newton Abbot. Yet many West Country profiles have the heads tilted upwards, as on the East Down chancel screen and Swimbridge Church font surround, both Devon, whereas at Waltham Abbey the figures are relatively upright."