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Commemorative and portrait medals gained popularity during the Renaissance and medal making spread out beyond the Italian peninsula. In the Netherlands, the period of intense economic change and new prosperity of the 17th century coincided with a new interest in medals as a portable, reproducible art form suitable for depicting a wide range of subjects. Some medals depict important people, like rulers, elected officials, naval and military heroes; some show events, such as significant battles, treaties signed, marriages; and others show buildings or institutions that spoke of the United Provinces’ prosperity and commerce, like the town hall and the stock exchange in Amsterdam. While most medals commemorate events roughly contemporary to their moment of production, this medal shows on the reverse (or secondary side) the granting of Great Privilege to the city of Amsterdam in 1342.
View: Recto
The granting of a crown for the Arms of Amsterdam by the Emperor Maximilian in 1488 / Count Wilhelm IV grants Amsterdam Great Privilege in 1342
Pieter van Abeele (Dutch, 1608–1684)
Dutch
17th century
Credit Line
The Maida and George Abrams Collection
Accession Number2021.225
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsNumismatics – Medals
Commemorative and portrait medals gained popularity during the Renaissance and medal making spread out beyond the Italian peninsula. In the Netherlands, the period of intense economic change and new prosperity of the 17th century coincided with a new interest in medals as a portable, reproducible art form suitable for depicting a wide range of subjects. Some medals depict important people, like rulers, elected officials, naval and military heroes; some show events, such as significant battles, treaties signed, marriages; and others show buildings or institutions that spoke of the United Provinces’ prosperity and commerce, like the town hall and the stock exchange in Amsterdam. While most medals commemorate events roughly contemporary to their moment of production, this medal shows on the reverse (or secondary side) the granting of Great Privilege to the city of Amsterdam in 1342.
Inscriptionsrecto, lower edge: CAES MAX CORONAM IMP / DONAVIT AMSTELO / 14 DAMO 88
Signed, verso, lower left: P V ABEELE F
Verso, lower center: COM WILM HOC INSIGNE / AMSTELODAMODONO / 13 DEDIT 42
Signed, verso, lower left: P V ABEELE F
Verso, lower center: COM WILM HOC INSIGNE / AMSTELODAMODONO / 13 DEDIT 42
ProvenanceApril 21-22, 1997, sale (auction no. 18), Laurens Schulman, Bussum, Netherlands, lot 1250, to George S. and Maida Abrams, Newton, MA; 2021, gift of George S. Abrams to the MFA. (Accession Date: April 14, 2021)