Objekt 9001
Portrait in Bronze
Description
The Erasmus medal
Erasmus of Rotterdam sent medals like this featuring his portrait to princes and scholars with the intention of presenting and representing himself to them. The reverse shows a herm of Terminus, the god of boundaries, whom Erasmus had chosen as his emblem because, to him, the figure symbolized death.
Object description
Medal by Quentin Massys (c. 1465/66–1530) on Erasmus of Rotterdam, model dated 1519, cast in 1524
White bronze, untouched and chased cast
Inv. 1916.288. Amerbach-Kabinett, 1927.345.