John VIII Palaeologus, Portrait of one of the last Emperors of the Byzantine Empire.

A cast Medallion of John VIII Palaeologus , it is a late creation , I am guessing 1900 because it is only one sided. The original was done the 1440’s. I am framing it to display Pisanello's artwork and an excellent portrait of an emperor.

It was the first cast medal made in Italy, before this all of them were struck. It is impressive at 104mm but what is very cool is it is a literal portrait of the next to Last Byzantine Emperor, the art of the empire was abstract in keeping with the rules of spiritualism, true beauty is from within.

 

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Indeed. Its not often that byzantine historical figures receive justice like this in terms of realism. Great pickup!

 

Certainly one of the most important medals in the history of art. Here is my example:


Lead, 101.6 mm Ø, 504.4 g

From the Michael Hall collection.
Exhibited in The Currency of Fame (1994 exhibition held at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC and the Frick Collection in New York).
Ex Rudolph Lepke (Berlin), 28-29 April 1931, lot 347 (W. von Dirksen collection).

 

That's neat, very cool.

 

John VIII AR Stavraton 7.14g, abstract as noted in my op.

 

John VIII Palaiologos, Byzantine Empire
AR stavraton
Obv: IC-XC, Facing bust of Christ, surrounded by eight dots
Rev: IWANHC DECPOTIC O PALEOLOGOC QV XAPITI AVTOKPATOP in two lines around nimbate facing bust of the emperor, dot to left and right
Mint: Constantinople
Date: 1425-1448
Ref: SB 2563
Size: 6.66 gr.



John VIII Palaiologos, Byzantine Empire
AR half-stavraton
Obv: IC-XC, Facing bust of Christ
Rev: IWANHC DECPOTIC Q PALEOLOGOC, nimbate facing bust of the emperor
Mint: Constantinople
Date: 1425-1448
Ref: SB 2565
Size: 3.3 gr.

 

It is striking, the difference between the Italian medal, versus the Byzantine stavraton. Both have portraits of John VIII. Both were created during approximately the same time period. Certainly, the Byzantine coin portraits were abstract/stylized, because of the Byzantine spirituality, as BenSi mentioned. Also, the times were increasingly desperate, for the Byzantine Empire, which may also partially explain the crudeness of their later coins.
Here is a Wikipedia article, about the Italian medal.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medal_of_John_VIII_Palaeologus
Here is my John VIII stavraton.
Date = 1425 AD to 1448 AD, maximum diameter = 23 mm, weight = 6.76 grams, Sear 2563, obverse = bust of Jesus Christ, reverse = bust of John VIII

 

The Renaissance vs. the 1200 year old Byzantine empire.

 

I have to redo one of the painted corks but i think the display came out nicely.

 

Very nice, BenSi.

 

@sand , you are correct , this is only my first attempt with the medallion, I will fix it next weekend. The coin is inside a shadow box that has a built in light. I tried to buy one from my framer after I saw a display model in his shop. The product was discontinued so he gave me the display model ( I do a lot of framing there.) I had originally used it for a Type A Anonymous follis but that was to small, this coin just fits at 104mm.
My biggest problem was getting the coin to display properly, I had originally used a cylinder and fish tank epoxy for the follis. This was way to heavy for this medallion, so we used four cylinders to displace the weight, and small nails for it to rest upon. One is misplaced. I still like the look.
It will end up on my desk, nice conversation piece.

 

Thank you for the information, BenSi. I'm sorry, that I deleted my questions above. I thought my questions might be annoying, so I deleted them.

 

Wow. A shadow box with a built in light. I had no idea. I guess that's why I was confused. It certainly is an interesting effect.