First Contact - 16th Century

For your consideration today, one of of those little finds that has the potential to entirely revise our view of history.

As mentioned, Villa d'Este is a marvelous Renaissance palace with breath taking gardens.  It also has some very nice interior decorations and in one painted wall I noticed something.

To appreciate this you must be at least a moderate Star Trek fan.

If so you would certainly know about the Ferengi, an alien race of short, greedy, big eared grifters.  In the Star Trek universe we don't encounter them until the 24th century*.

 Well OK then.  How do you explain this!

* Star Trek fans of an obsessive nature of course know that contact with the Ferengi actually happened near Roswell New Mexico in 1947 (See Deep Space Nine, season four) but was covered up.