This is a marble panel that sits on top of a mantel at the Chateau d'Azay-le-Rideau. I've seen this same symbol in several French chateaus, so I finally looked it up this morning & this is what I found: "Francois I of France adopted as his badge the salamander in the midst of flames, with the legend, "Nutrisco et extinguo" ("I nourish and extinguish"). The Italian motto from which this legend was borrowed was "Nudrisco il buono e spengo it reo" ("I nourish the good and extinguish the bad')." Given that Francois I was both a well-educated patron of the arts & a ruthless ruler, it seems a fitting motto. Here's the overview of his life from Wikipedia, but for anyone who might be interested, there's a lot more fascinating info about him there that's worth reading: "Francis I (French: Francois Ier) (12 September 1494 – 31 March 1547) was the first King of France from the Angouleme branch of House of Valois, from 1515 until his death. He was the son of Charles, Count of Angouleme, and Louise of Savoy. He succeeded his cousin and father-in-law Louis XII, who died without a male heir. A prodigal patron of the arts, he initiated the French Renaissance by attracting many Italian artists to work on the Chateau de Chambord, including Leonardo da Vinci, who brought the Mona Lisa with him, which Francis had acquired. Francis' reign saw important cultural changes with the rise of absolute monarchy in France, the spread of humanism and Protestantism, and the beginning of French exploration of the New World. Jacques Cartier and others claimed lands in the Americas for France and paved the way for the expansion of the first French colonial empire. For his role in the development and promotion of a standardized French language, he became known as le Pere et Restaurateur des Lettres (the "Father and Restorer of Letters"). He was also known as Francois au Grand Nez ("Francis of the Large Nose"), the Grand Colas, and the Roi-Chevalier (the "Knight-King") for his personal involvement in the wars against his great rival Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. Following the policy of his predecessors, Francis continued the Italian Wars. The succession of Charles of Austria to the Burgundian Netherlands, the throne of Spain, and his subsequent election as Holy Roman Emperor, led to the encirclement of France by the Habsburg monarchy. In his struggle against Imperial hegemony, he unsuccessfully sought the support of Henry VIII of England at the Field of the Cloth of Gold. As an alternative, he formed a Franco-Ottoman alliance with Suleiman the Magnificent, a controversial move for a Christian king at the time." Please zoom.