Silver, Leipzig (Eastern Germany), 1569, Hans Reinhart the Elder

The obverse shows the Crucifixion represented in the Gnadenstuhl ('throne of grace') manner: God the Father is shown enthroned behind the crucified Christ. The medal has a border of leaves and fruit on the obverse and reverse. On the reverse is a shield containing an inscription supported by two angels.

Hans Reinhart, who made this medal, became a citizen of Leipzig in 1539. He was active as a goldsmith, and produced coins, spoons, belts and daggers as well as medals. He died in 1581. The Museum purchased this medal in 1856 for £25.

Historical significance: The medal is of extremely high quality, although the style and technical skill of Reinhart's workmanship have not always been appreciated. G.F.Hill, writing in 1920, judged the piece 'a monstrosity', and Reinhart's works 'an awful example of the deplorably bad taste of which the school [ie. the German school] was capable' (Hill: 1920, p.117). Originally struck for Maurice, Duke of Saxony, in 1544, the five subsequent variants illustrate the activity and suggest the influence of Reinhart's Leipzig workshop on contemporaries.

Sixteenth-century medals were often struck to commemorate a person , or to celebrate a particular personal or political event. They were could be presented as gifts to friends or to important visitors. This medal, made for Augustus, Duke of Saxony, represents the fifth of six versions of the medal made by Reinhart in the period 1544 to 1574. The first version had been commissioned by Augustus's predecessor, Maurice, shortly before Maurice's confrontation with the Emperor Charles V on the grounds of religious difference.(Maurice was one of the leaders of the Schmalkaldic League, a group of Protestant princes and cities opposed to the catholic Emperor Charles V.) The texts and images on this medal combine catholic and protestant beliefs about the Trinity and God's incarnation. For example, the first part of the inscription on the shield on the reverse (up to MAIESTAS) is from the Athanasian Creed, a statement of the main points of Christian faith which focusses on the Trinity and the Incarnation, and which protestant reformers (especially followers of Martin Luther) accepted unreservedly. The remaining text is from a traditional church hymn on the sanctity of the Trinity ('Benedicta sit semper sancta Trinitas' - 'May the Holy Trinity be forever Blessed') and is found in various manuscripts from the eleventh century onwards. It is also included in the second book of the treatise on music by the Swiss scholar and church reformer (though not a protestant) Henricus Glareanus (Dodecachordon (Basel: 1547)). It may be, therefore, that the medal was seen by both Maurice and Augustus as a suitable gift to affirm protestant ideals without alienating catholics.
Medals were also collected during this period as a sign of erudition and culture. They could be stored in boxes or specially-made cabinets, or suspended from loops on a wall. The hole and loop added to this finely-wrought example show it was suspended during a stage in its history, admired perhaps as much for the skill of its workmanship as the spiritual and political values it commemorates.

4053-1856