Pair of Italian, ornately carved walnut and bronze bellows, made in the sixteenth century. Bellows were needed to pump air into the embers to coax the fire to life. Most of them were plain and ordinary objects. However, some bellows, especially from Italy and France were elaborately carved by master craftsmen. The deeply carved winged figures, together with the grotesque carvings of the satyr's head on the bellow's handles, were popular features on carvings in the second half of the 16th century.