A beautiful Papal Medal ***nudity warning***
JRocco
Posts: 14,277 ✭✭✭✭✭
I was lucky enough to just acquire this beautiful Pope Paul III Papal Medal.
I believe that this is listed as Spink # 498.
This is a tough one to find.
This is a large 40mm bronze piece.
The reverse shows the nude figure of Ganymede along with an eagle.
The story goes that Zeus fell in love with the young Ganymede. Zeus then came down in the form of an eagle or sent an eagle to carry Ganymede to Mount Olympus where Ganymede became cupbearer to the gods. Fascinating stuff on a mid 16th century Papal Medal.
I really like this piece. The medal is done with enough detail as to show the furrows on Pope Paul's forehead.
Look at the eagle detail.
This is great stuff.
I believe that this is listed as Spink # 498.
This is a tough one to find.
This is a large 40mm bronze piece.
The reverse shows the nude figure of Ganymede along with an eagle.
The story goes that Zeus fell in love with the young Ganymede. Zeus then came down in the form of an eagle or sent an eagle to carry Ganymede to Mount Olympus where Ganymede became cupbearer to the gods. Fascinating stuff on a mid 16th century Papal Medal.
I really like this piece. The medal is done with enough detail as to show the furrows on Pope Paul's forehead.
Look at the eagle detail.
This is great stuff.
Some coins are just plain "Interesting"
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Wow. VERY cool.
Wonder what that's all about?
Lovely piece...
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<< <i>This is great stuff. >>
It most certainly is!
Congratulations!
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Nice medal.
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The reverse more properly belongs to Year XI of Paul III's reign (~1545). The reverse portrays, as you noted, the handsome youth Ganymede, in this case holding back the eagle (Zeus) with his left hand and watering lilies from a jug with his right hand. It is believed that on the reverse, Ganymede represents the Pontiff, and the eagle represents the emperor Charles V. In 1545, Paul made his (illegitimate) son Pier Luigi Farnese the first Duke of Parma, to the consternation of Charles V, who wanted to unite Parma and Piacenza to the Duchy of Milan. This action is seen as preserving and nourishing the future of Parma, and hence the Pope nourishing the lilies.
The obverse was originally intended to be used on the medals for 1550 celebrating the Holy Year (this would have been year 16 of Paul's reign). He had officially announced the Holy Year, but passed away on November 10, 1549, before it began. In the original version of the obverse, on the cope beneath the figures, the words ANNO IVBILAEI MDL (Jubilee Year 1550) appeared. These were removed from that die for later strikings, though yours seems to be from a newer die, as the pattern there is quite clean. The scene of the Pope breaking open the Holy Door to begin the Holy Year is still scene on the cope. Below is a silver medal that I have with the same obverse design, if you look closely, you can see the design underneath the figures on the cope is very crude, most likely from effacing the original inscription. The reverse shows the originally intended reverse celebrating Rome as the destination for pilgrims during the Holy Year.
Virtus Collection - Renaissance and Baroque Medals
<< <i>Mid-16th century? In that grade? Plus in a big huge size?
Wow. VERY cool. >>
Hey LMC, this is surely a more modern restrike of the original medal. They were good back in the 1500's, but not this good
I was referring to the design itself from that time period. Sorry for the misunderstanding.
Now this medal is more in line with the quality of a true 1500's striking.
Amazing stuff that you share so often.
I will put on a pot of coffee and do some research now to get more up to speed
on this time frame in history.
Thanks again,
John
This may be more detail than you wanted but...CNORP indicates 5 varieties for this medal. The earliest, contemporary medals are dated An. XI and An XIII. Neither of these feature the Jubilee design on the cope.
The last 3 are all dated XVI and have the Jubilee design. The first of the XVI dated pieces, #310, has the orginal legend remaining on the cope and is attributed to the 16th century. 311 has the design rather crudely replacing the legend and is dated to the 17/18th centuries. 312 seems to have a new obverse die with much cleaner features which Modesti indicates were among the 19th century restrikes. Nevertheless, a very nice, historical medal.
Some of the new research available in previously obscure areas is just amazing and makes collecting more interesting for us pedantic types.
Walter Breen would have loved it