medal
- Museum number
- M.6788
- Description
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Silver medal; cast and chased. (whole)
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Bust of Henry VIII., left hat with drapery looped under the brim, hair somewhat long for the period, cloak, riband round his neck for a medal; undergarment puckered with bands across the body. m. m. Cross patée. (obverse)
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A Tudor Rose: above an inscription. (reverse)
- Production date
- 1524 (1521-1540)
- Dimensions
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Diameter: 33.000 millimetres
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Weight: 32.31 grammes
- $Inscriptions
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- Curator's comments
- Medallic Illustrations 1, published in 1885, states:
Very rare.
Cast and chased, contemporaneous; of tolerable workmanship. The title of Defender of the Faith was conferred on Henry by Leo X, 11 Oct. 1521, by a Bull which is preserved in the British Library (Cott. MS. Vit. B. IV. 105): the title of Lord of Ireland shows that this piece must have been executed before 1541. The odour of the Rose, the badge of Henry VIII, is here likened to the fragrant smell which proceeded from the plants and cedars of the valleys of Lebanon.
Obverse in Heraeus, Carl Gustav, ‘Bildnisse der regierenden Fürsten und berühmter Männer, &c’, Wien, 1780 (fol.), Pl. 25, fig. V.
- Location
- On display (G2/fc163)
- Exhibition history
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Exhibited:
2009 22 Apr-6 Sept, London, British Library, Henry VIII: Man and Monarch
2014 Oct 14 - London, BM, G2, 'Collecting the World'
- Department
- Money and Medals
- Registration number
- M.6788
- Additional IDs
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Miscellaneous number: 10
- C&M catalogue number
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MB1 (Medallic Illustrations 1) (30) (15)
