Definitely religious due to the nimbus (halo) around the head of the figure in the top picture. I pasted that top image into AI and asked who it was. The reply was: "Saint Leonard of Noblac (also known as Saint Leonard of Limoges). Traditionally invoked as the patron saints of prisoners, captives, and slaves." Notice he is shown in your medallion holding a chain attached to a shackle or manacle. I then googled why this particular saint would be holding a branch, and found out that it would likely have been a palm branch, which would either signify that he was an abbot, or, representative of spiritual victory. I then pasted the lower image into AI and found out that it depicts St. Michael the Archangel, trampling satan, "holding scales to represent his role in the Psychostasia, which is the weighing of human souls in judgment. This imagery was common in Medieval and Renaissance Catholic art." All the above comes with the typical caveat: AI can make mistakes. (As is true with the entirety of the Internet.)
In my experience Ai answers differently depending on how you ask a question and even including a picture it has given me wrong answers AI overview: A palm branch is a universal symbol of martyrdom and victory over sin and death. Because of this, it is not tied to a single saint, but is instead depicted in the iconography of almost any saint who died as a martyr. While there are many such saints, some of the most famous figures frequently depicted holding a palm branch include: Saint Lawrence: A deacon and martyr often seen holding a palm branch or a gridiron (the instrument of his execution). Saint Stephen: The first Christian martyr, frequently shown holding a palm branch along with stones. Saint Sebastian: The early Christian saint and martyr often portrayed tied to a tree with arrows, also carrying a palm.
I would lean to St Lawrence or Stephan since the figure appears to be wearing a Dalmatic I would likely say the St Lawrence because I see chains in the figure had which would speak to being jail and the Palm like being a Martyr The other side is St Micheal the Archangel with his sword and scales So looks like st Lawrence and St Micheal
Interesting. I did more research, left AI out of it, read several reliable websites, and looked at many pictures of similar medallions and other art pieces featuring individual saints. In the process I saw that Saint Lawrence was very often portrayed holding a gridiron (as @cmezner mentioned above), or with flames, or with red-hot pieces of metal or firebrands (all these things are directly associated to the ghastly manner of his 258 AD death), and never holding/upholding a chain or shackle/manacle/fetter. Saint Leonard (5th-6th century AD) was most often portrayed with a chain and/or shackle/manacle/fetter (directly associated with his specific role as patron saint of prisoners and captives), and never with a gridiron, flames, or red-hot metal. Both were sometimes portrayed with a palm leaf. Saint Leonard holding a chain: https://www.christianiconography.info/leonard.html Saint Lawrence upon a metal gridiron above flames: https://www.christianiconography.info/lawrence.html I totally agree that the palm branch is not directly associated to any one particular saint, but rather is seen in portrayals of many of the Catholic and Orthodox saints. (Of course it is not at all uncommon for the palm leaf/frond to be included in portrayals of Jesus in association with the Triumphal Entry.) I also totally agree that answers from AI differ based on how a query is formed. When I started using AI on occasion, a friend of mine strongly encouraged me to stop using it until I spent some dedicated time studying how to best create prompts for AI that would be effective. It was time well invested.
