Germany and Austria
Medal making became popular in Germany in the early sixteenth century (and, in the expansive Hapsburg Empire, a number of significant medals were produced in Austria). German medals tend toward exacting portraiture, with reverses usually carrying heraldic imagery. They were often made by striking — the shaping of a blank metal disk between two carved dies — a method that had been used since antiquity to form coins. Innovations such as the development of the screw press allowed medalists to strike medals more easily, at larger sizes, and with greater control. The resulting relief and remarkable detail are epitomized in the work of the seventeenth-century artist Sebastian Dadler.
Nuremberg School (Stabius Group)
Johannes Stabius (1462–1522), ca. 1517
Copper alloy, cast
Diam.: 2 7/8 in. (7.23 cm)
Scher Collection
Cat. 41
Hans Schwarz (ca. 1492/93–after 1527)
Martin Tucher (1460–1528), 1519
Copper alloy, cast
Diam.: 2 3/16 in. (5.63 cm)
Scher Collection
Cat. 42
Hans Daucher (ca. 1485–1538)
Ludwig II, King of Hungary and Bohemia (b. 1506; r. 1516–26), and Count Stephan Schlick (1487–1526), dated 1526
Copper alloy, cast
Diam.: 2 3/8 in. (6.04 cm)
Scher Collection
Cat. 43
Unknown Nuremberg artist
Friedrich VII Behaim (1491–1533), dated (on reverse) 1526
Limestone
Diam.: 1 9/16 in. (4 cm)
Scher Collection
Cat. 44
Unknown German artist
Margaret of Hapsburg, called Margaret of Austria (b. 1480; Governor of the Low Countries 1507–15 and 1517–30), 16th century
Boxwood (relief) and rosewood (frame)
Diam.: 2 7/16 in. (6.26 cm)
Scher Collection
Cat. 45
Matthes Gebel (ca. 1500–1574)
Christoph Kress von Kressenstein (1484–1535), dated 1526; ca. 1530
Copper alloy, cast
Diam.: 1 9/16 in. (3.94 cm)
Scher Collection
Cat. 46
Matthes Gebel (ca. 1500–1574)
Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528), not before 1528
Copper alloy, cast
Diam.: 1 9/16 in. (3.90 cm)
Scher Collection
Cat. 47
Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528)
Adam and Eve, 1504
Engraving
9 7/8 × 7 11/16 in. (25.1 × 19.5 cm)
The Frick Collection; Henry Clay Frick Bequest
Cat. 48
Friedrich Hagenauer (act. 1520–after 1546)
Matthaeus Schwarz (1497–ca. 1574), 1530
Boxwood
Scher Collection
Diam. obverse: 1 3/4 in. (4.4 cm)
Diam. reverse: 1 3/4 in. (4.37 cm)
Cat. 49
Hans Reinhart the Elder (1500/10–1581)
Johann Friedrich I (1503–1554; Elector of Saxony 1532–47), dated 1535
Silver, cast
Diam.: 2 9/16 in. (6.58 cm)
Scher Collection
Cat. 50
Hans Reinhart the Elder (1500/10–1581)
Adam and Eve and the Crucifixion, dated 1536
Gilt silver, cast
Diam.: 2 5/8 in. (6.7 cm)
Scher Collection; Promised gift to The Frick Collection
Cat. 51
Hans Reinhart the Elder (1500/10–1581)
Trinity Medal, dated 1544
Silver, cast
Diam.: 4 1/16 in. (10.28 cm)
Scher Collection
Cat. 52
Wolf Milicz (act. 1533–46)
Ferdinand I (1503–1564) and Anne of Bohemia (1503–1547), dated 1537
Silver, struck
Diam.: 1 13/16 in. (4.68 cm)
Scher Collection; Promised gift to The Frick Collection
Cat. 53
Unknown German artist
Elisabeth, Duchess of Braunschweig-Calenberg (1510–1558), dated 1544
Gilt silver alloy, cast
Diam.: 1 5/8 in. (4.13 cm)
Scher Collection
Cat. 54
Master of the Ottheinrich of the Palatinate Group
Ottheinrich, Count of the Rhenish Palatinate (b. 1502; Duke of Lower and Upper Bavaria 1502–59; Prince Elector of the Palatinate 1556–59), dated 1558
Gilt silver
Diam.: 1 3/4 in. (4.45 cm)
Scher Collection
Cat. 55
Joachim Deschler (ca. 1500–1571)
Georg (1508/9–1574) and Anna Prandstetter (d. 1568), dated 1563
Silver, cast
Diam.: 1 7/8 in. (4.76 cm)
Scher Collection; Promised gift to The Frick Collection
Cat. 56
Severin Brachmann (act. 1565–90 in Austria and Bohemia)
Adam Myslík von Hyršov (1520–1581) and Prudentia Myslík (b. 1525), dated 1573
Silver, cast
Diam.: 1 5/16 in. (3.35 cm)
Scher Collection
Cat. 57
Attributed to Balduin Drentwett (1545–1627)
Michael Leonhard Maier (b. 1520), dated 1580
Silver, cast
Diam.: 1 5/8 in. (4.16 cm)
Scher Collection; Promised gift to The Frick Collection
Cat. 58
Unknown Nuremberg artist
Magdalena Welzer Roemerin (1505–1582), dated 1582
Silver, cast
Diam.: 1 9/16 in. (3.97 cm)
Scher Collection
Cat. 59
Unknown German artist
Member of the Rieter von Kornburg Family (patrician of Nuremberg, likely died in 1637), not before 1631 (medal and locket); not before 1637 (mounting)
Gilt silver, cast (medal); silver, partially gilt (mounting and suspension chains, probably the original ones)
Silver in frame: 1 9/16 × 1 5/16 in. (3.96 × 3.36 cm)
Framed: 2 × 1 15/16 in. (5.08 × 4.97 cm)
Scher Collection
Cat. 60
Johann Blum (ca. 1599–after 1668; act. in Bremen)
William II of Orange-Nassau (b. 1626; Stadtholder of the United Provinces of the Netherlands 1647–50) and Mary Henrietta Stuart, Princess Royal (1631–1660), 1641
Silver, struck
Diam.: 2 7/8 in. (7.28 cm)
Scher Collection
Cat. 61
Sebastian Dadler (1586–1657)
Frederick Henry in Triumph and Arrival of Princess Mary in the Netherlands, dated 1648
Gilt silver, struck
Diam.: 2 7/8 in. (7.35 cm)
Scher Collection
Cat. 62
Sebastian Dadler (1586–1657)
Ladislaus IV Vasa, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania (b. 1595; r. 1632–48), and Ludovica Maria Gonzaga-Nevers, Queen of Poland (b. 1611; r. 1645–67), 1645–48
Silver, struck
Diam.: 1 15/16 in. (4.98 cm)
Scher Collection
Cat. 63
Sebastian Dadler (1586–1657)
Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1608; r. 1637–57), dated 1649
Silver, struck
Diam.: 3 1/16 in. (7.76 cm)
The Frick Collection; Gift of Stephen K. and Janie Woo Scher, 2016
Cat. 64
Martin Heinrich Omeis (or Ohmeiss, 1651–1703; act. in Dresden)
John George II of Wettin (b. 1613; Elector of Saxony 1656–80), 1677
Silver, struck
2 3/16 × 1 7/8 in. (5.53 × 4.82 cm)
Scher Collection
Cat. 65
Johann Christoph Reteke (act. 1664–1720)
Hamburg Satirical Medal, 17th century
Silver, struck
1 3/4 × 1 9/16 in. (4.39 × 4.02 cm)
Scher Collection
Cat. 66
Heinrich Bonhorst (act. 1669; d. 1711)
Fortuna and Silver Mines, ca. 1698
Silver, cast
Diam.: 2 5/8 in. (6.6 cm)
Scher Collection
Cat. 67
Franz Andreas Schega (1711–1787)
Maximilian III Joseph (1727–1777) and Marie Anne Sophia of Saxony (1728–1797), ca. 1747
Silver, struck
Diam.: 2 7/16 in. (6.19 cm)
Scher Collection; Promised gift to The Frick Collection
Cat. 68
Bernhard Perger (act. ca. 1769–98)
Livia Doria Carafa (1745–1779), dated 1779
Copper alloy, struck
Diam.: 2 7/8 in. (7.38 cm)
The Frick Collection; Gift of Stephen K. and Janie Woo Scher, 2016
Cat. 69
Anton Franz Widemann (1724–1792) and Peter Kaiserswerth (act. 1765–93)
Marie Antoinette (1755–1793), dated 1770
Silver, struck
Diam.: 1 3/4 in. (4.38 cm)
Scher Collection
Cat. 70
Conrad Heinrich Küchler (act. 1763–1821)
Marie-Antoinette (1755–1793), dated 1793
Copper, struck
Diam.: 1 7/8 in. (4.8 cm)
The Frick Collection; Gift of Stephen K. and Janie Woo Scher, 2016
Cat. 71