DIGITAL COLLECTIONS

Help

Search

Advanced Search

Find results with:

Add another field

Search by date

to

Searching collections:

Visual Resources Center Digital Image Collection

Add or remove collections

Home Constantine, gold medallion coin of Constantine, front view.

Reference URL

Share

Add tags

Comment

Rate

To link to this object, paste this link in email, IM or document

To embed this object, paste this HTML in website

Constantine, gold medallion coin of Constantine, front view.

View Description

Loading content ...

you wish to report:

Your comment:

Your Name:

Submit

Cancel

...

Back to top

Powered by CONTENTdm®

Larger Image	Larger image may be viewed by UofL faculty, staff, and students only (log-in required using ULink username/password) at: http://echo.louisville.edu/login?url=http://vrc-web.louisville.edu/Jpegs/760/762-03.jpg
Title	Constantine, gold medallion coin of Constantine, front view.
Date	324 - 326?
Cultural Context	Ancient Roman Italian European Western European
Style/Period	Roman (ancient Italian style) Constantinian
Theme	Sculpture (visual work) Coins (money) Money Solidi Medallions (medals) Medals Jewelry Necklaces Goldwork Metalwork Effigies Figurative art Figures (representations) Front views Three-quarter views Oblique views Profiles (figures) Portraits Men (male humans) Emperors Royalty Leaders (people) Rulers (people) Monarchs Upper class Aristocrats Officers (military officers) Military personnel Busts Costume (mode of fashion) Military uniforms Uniforms Crowns (headdresses) Headdresses Headgear Globes (cartographic spheres) Symbolism (artistic concept) Symbols Patterns (design elements) Inscriptions
Subject	Sculpture Coins Money Medals Jewelry Necklaces Goldwork Metalwork Effigies Portraits Men Emperors Rulers People associated with politics & government Upper class Military officers Military personnel People associated with military activities Clothing & dress Military uniforms Uniforms Crowns Headdresses Headgear Globes Symbols Patterns (Design elements) Inscriptions
Description	"In this medallion, a gold coin is set within the center of a gold disc. A ring for hanging it projects from the top. The coin is a double solidus with an imperial effigy on the front [...]. In bust view, the emperor is seen in left profile, in military dress (here a cuirass and paludamentum or mantle), wearing a ring-shaped crown, his right hand raised in salutation and his left hand holding a globe, symbol of the universal empire. […] The gold disc in which the solidus is mounted has openwork decoration done in a technique known as opus interrasile. The decoration is punctuated at regular intervals by gold medallions out from which busts in high relief project. Between each of these busts, two leafy vines scroll symmetrically from either side of a heart-shaped leaf. Of the original six busts depicted, five remain: three female on the left and two male on the right - all turned in three-quarter view toward the center of the jewel. The formal homogeneity of their standard faces is broken by the varied treatment of their hair. Just who these busts represent is still in question, since they lack the attributions that would enable identification. […] The other side of the coin depicts Constantine's two sons, Crispus and Constantine II, dressed in - and holding - the insignia of their consular status (the trabea, the consul's clothes, the crown and a scepter surmounted by an eagle). They are accompanied by their names and office: CRISPUS ET CONSTANTIUS NOB(ILISIMI) CAEAS(ARE)S CONS(ULE)S II (though this is obscured by the coin's mounting). Under the busts is an indication of the workshop that issued the coin: SIRM(IUM), present-day Sremska Mitrovica, near Belgrade in Serbia. Thus this is a coin minted in Sirmium on the occasion of the second consulship of Constantine's sons, which began on January 1, 321 A.D. [...] This medallion was part of a series of five known circular or octagonal pieces. […] All are thought to have belonged to a single necklace and to have been separated by many pairs of Corinthian colonnettes in opus interrasile; the necklace was joined by a clasp decorated with precious stones. […] It can be considered as a memorial work produced within the imperial entourage and offered to a court dignitary, such as a consular diptych." (Excerpt from catalogue entry by Cecile Giroire, p. 65). Provenance unknown. Purchased in 1973 (BJ 2280-INV. MNE 684).Restorer: D. Robcis, Centre de recherché et de restauration des musées de France, 2005.
People Pictured	Constantine I, Emperor of Rome, d. 337
Material	Gold (metal) Metal
Measurements	Diam: 3 5/8 in (9.2 cm)
Technique	Metalworking Goldsmithing
Inscription	Inscribed on the front of the double solidus coin: D(OMINUS) N(OSTER) CONSTANTIUS MAX(IMUS) AUG(USTUS)
Work Type	Coins Money Medallions (medals) Medals Jewelry Portraits Metalwork
Repository	Musee du Louvre (Paris, France)
Source	Giroire, Cecile, and Daniel Roger. Roman Art from the Louvre. New York: American Federation of Arts in assoc. with Hudson Hills Press, 2007. (p.64, cat.12).
Rights	Photographs of the works in the exhibition reproduced in Giroire courtesy: Copyright © 2007 Musee du Louvre and the American Federation of Arts/Anne Chauvet, Daniel Lebee, and Carine De Ambrosis.
Digital Publisher	University of Louisville Department of Fine Arts/Allen R. Hite Art Institute Visual Resources Center
Format	image/jpeg
Digital File Name	VRC 762-03.jpg
Rating

DIGITAL COLLECTIONS

Find results with:

Searching collections:

Home Constantine, gold medallion coin of Constantine, front view.

Constantine, gold medallion coin of Constantine, front view.

Description

Tags

Comments