John VIII Palaeologus, Emperor of Constantinople, 1425-1448. Cast bronze medal , undated (around 1438-1439), Ferrara or Florence. Considered the first ever Renaissance Medal and commemorating the participation of the penultimate Byzantine Emperor at the Council of Ferrara. (Ø 103,8 mm; 300,15 gr.) Bust right, with trim beard and moustache, wearing hat with tall crown and large upturned brim, pointed in front, vest and cloak with falling collar ; hair in long curls // OPVS PISANI PICTORIS. The Emperor on an ambling horse right ; wearing hat as on obverse, holding bow at left, quiver at right side ; raising folded hands as he passes at ride side ; behind him, a page on horseback seen from behind ; in background, rocks ; upper half of design bordered by plain line ending in hooks.
Click here to discover this medal in your hands in a 4K quality video. Of the highest rarity in this quality. Possibly one of the best known specimens. Museum piece. Suspension hole. Extremely fine and sharp contemporary cast
Armand I, p. 7, n°20 (Ø 104 mm); Hill, Corpus I, p. 6, n°19 (Ø 103-104 mm); Hill & Pollard (Kress Coll.) n°1 (Ø 103 mm); Scher (The Currency of Fame) 4.
Provenance: Collection A. M.
Collection Dr. Johannes Jantzen, Auction Sternberg XXIX, Zürich (Switzerland) 30 October 1995, lot n°694.
Publication of this specimen in: Johannes Jantzen, Gegossene Medaillen und Plaketten der Renaissance. In Die Bundesbank, Zeitschrift der Deutschen Bundesbank, Frankfurt a.M., volume 26, November 1967, p. 4,5,6.
We have also been able to find this very medal illustrated on a photographic plate, attributed to Jacques-Ernest Bulloz, photographer in Paris. Dated between 1900 and 1930, the plate is now located in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts of the city of Paris, in the Petit Palais (Museum inventory number: PPPH00610(4))
; RENAISSANCE MEDALS; ITALIAN MEDALS; ANTONIO PISANO, CALLED PISANELLO, 1395-1455.
; RENAISSANCE MEDALS; ITALIAN MEDALS; ANTONIO PISANO, CALLED PISANELLO, 1395-1455.