On the front side is the profile of the Byzantine Emperor John VIII Palaiologos, high headdress and goatee pointing forward.
On the reverse side, a scene shows the same man on horseback surrounded by other riders.
This bronze medal from the beginning of the 15th century, belonging to the Saint-Remi museum in Reims, is an unknown treasure.
We owe it to Pisanello, considered the first medal artist and apostle of this art which then took off in Europe.
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If this Renaissance coin, cast to celebrate the visit of the sovereign, is remembered by specialists as the first "modern" medal, Greeks and Romans of Antiquity struck amulets as they struck coins.
Decorated with pagan symbols, they were supposed to protect against evil, injury and death.
Over the centuries, the medal became the prerogative of major institutions to commemorate diplomatic or military events.
It will be used as a jewel of the sacraments…
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