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<p>[QUOTE="ycon, post: 7335734, member: 91771"]Part II </p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1280938[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p><b>Paul III (1468–1534-1549), Farnese, the Ganymede Medal, bronze annual medal, Year 16 (1549/1550), by Alessandro Cesati</b>, called 'Il Grechetto', PAVLVS · III · PONT · MAX · AN · XVI · bust r., wearing cope embroidered with scene of the Porta Sacra, rev. ΦEPNH · ZHNOΣ. Ganymede watering the Farnese lilies, EYPAINEI in exergue. 39.30mm 30g. (Att.380, fig 69; cf. Linc.497; cf. Arm I, 172, 5, year XIII; cf. Pollard 417), old restrike, from incorrect obverse die.</p><p><br /></p><p>This medal has an interesting double history. The dies, which are mismatched—making it a mule of sorts—were engraved by one of the great late Renaissance medalists: Alessandro Cesati, known as Grechetto. Vasari records a hyperbole in his honor that he attributes to Michelangelo: “The hour of art’s death has arrived, because a better [medal] could not exist.”</p><p><br /></p><p>The Ganymede symbolism here is unexpected (on a <i>papal</i> medal) and delightful—and quintessentially Renaissance. The legends “The dowry of Zeus” and “He irrigates well” form a play on the Farnese name, and the imagery of the medal symbolizes the pope’s paternal task of nurturing. It is one of a number of instances of Paul III’s use of Jovian iconography.</p><p><br /></p><p>Why then is this medal listed second to last if the dies date from 1549.50? The Hammerani family, who were the great Baroque family of papal engravers in the 17th century, put together a massive collection of papal medallic dies. Until the 1790s the dies belonged to the artists and not to the mint, and the celators were permitted to privately strike and sell medals after fulfilling the terms of the official orders. The Hamerani formalized this process in 1789 with the founding of a saleroom in Rome to pedal re-struck papal medals—the original tourist shop. The medals they struck were generally mules. They treated obverses of the same pope as interchangeable and were not careful in matching them with their original reverses. The re-striking operation continued well into the 19th century and was expanded by the Mint Master of Rome, Francesco Mazio. In 1824 he published the first catalogue of papal medals and it was probably under him, and around that time, when my medal was struck.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1280939[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p><b>International aviation exhibition in Frankfurt,1909</b>. Bronze medal (unsigned. - K. Eberle). Ganymedes, cupbearer of Zeus, is carried to Olympus by an eagle / script. 83.2mm, 205g 1.346 Kaiser 342.2</p><p><br /></p><p>The youngest item in my collection is this wonderful art deco piece. It was issued in 1909 to commemorate the Ausstellungshalle der Internationalen Luftschiffahrt in Frankfurt which was the world’s first aviation exhibition. I find the connection between aviation and Ganymede being lifted to the sky quite charming.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1280940[/ATTACH] </p><p><font size="1">photo of the 1909 exhibition </font>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="ycon, post: 7335734, member: 91771"]Part II [ATTACH=full]1280938[/ATTACH] [B]Paul III (1468–1534-1549), Farnese, the Ganymede Medal, bronze annual medal, Year 16 (1549/1550), by Alessandro Cesati[/B], called 'Il Grechetto', PAVLVS · III · PONT · MAX · AN · XVI · bust r., wearing cope embroidered with scene of the Porta Sacra, rev. ΦEPNH · ZHNOΣ. Ganymede watering the Farnese lilies, EYPAINEI in exergue. 39.30mm 30g. (Att.380, fig 69; cf. Linc.497; cf. Arm I, 172, 5, year XIII; cf. Pollard 417), old restrike, from incorrect obverse die. This medal has an interesting double history. The dies, which are mismatched—making it a mule of sorts—were engraved by one of the great late Renaissance medalists: Alessandro Cesati, known as Grechetto. Vasari records a hyperbole in his honor that he attributes to Michelangelo: “The hour of art’s death has arrived, because a better [medal] could not exist.” The Ganymede symbolism here is unexpected (on a [I]papal[/I] medal) and delightful—and quintessentially Renaissance. The legends “The dowry of Zeus” and “He irrigates well” form a play on the Farnese name, and the imagery of the medal symbolizes the pope’s paternal task of nurturing. It is one of a number of instances of Paul III’s use of Jovian iconography. Why then is this medal listed second to last if the dies date from 1549.50? The Hammerani family, who were the great Baroque family of papal engravers in the 17th century, put together a massive collection of papal medallic dies. Until the 1790s the dies belonged to the artists and not to the mint, and the celators were permitted to privately strike and sell medals after fulfilling the terms of the official orders. The Hamerani formalized this process in 1789 with the founding of a saleroom in Rome to pedal re-struck papal medals—the original tourist shop. The medals they struck were generally mules. They treated obverses of the same pope as interchangeable and were not careful in matching them with their original reverses. The re-striking operation continued well into the 19th century and was expanded by the Mint Master of Rome, Francesco Mazio. In 1824 he published the first catalogue of papal medals and it was probably under him, and around that time, when my medal was struck. [ATTACH=full]1280939[/ATTACH] [B]International aviation exhibition in Frankfurt,1909[/B]. Bronze medal (unsigned. - K. Eberle). Ganymedes, cupbearer of Zeus, is carried to Olympus by an eagle / script. 83.2mm, 205g 1.346 Kaiser 342.2 The youngest item in my collection is this wonderful art deco piece. It was issued in 1909 to commemorate the Ausstellungshalle der Internationalen Luftschiffahrt in Frankfurt which was the world’s first aviation exhibition. I find the connection between aviation and Ganymede being lifted to the sky quite charming. [ATTACH=full]1280940[/ATTACH] [SIZE=1]photo of the 1909 exhibition [/SIZE][/QUOTE]
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