Medal: Sultan Süleyman I
Unknown Artist
ca. 1525
Medium
Bronze (Reddish copper alloy with traces of a dark wax layer).
Dimensions
Diam. 12.8 cm, wt. 554.77 g.
Classification
Medals
Culture
Northern Italian
Department
Robert Lehman Collection
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Robert Lehman Collection, 1975
Accession Number
1975.1.1249
Tags
Art Historical Context
This striking bronze medal from around 1525 portrays Sultan Süleyman I, as Süleyman the Magnificent the Ottoman ruler whose reign (1520–1566) marked the empire's golden age of military conquests, legal reforms, and cultural patronage. Crafted by an unknown Northern Italian artist, captures Süleyman in classical profile, evoking the antique Roman coins revived during the Renaissance. At12.8 cm in diameter and weighing nearly 555 grams, its substantial size and reddish copper alloycoated with traces of dark wax for protection—make it an impressive example of Renaissance medal-making, a popular f...