Lot 154: [ ITALIAN MEDALS ]

GIOVANNI DA CAVINO (1500-1570) Marcantonio Contarini (1485-1546/8), bronze medal, 1540, M ANTONIVS CONTARENVS, draped bust left, rev., PATAVIVM (Padua), personification of Padua, holding scales and cornucopiae, seated left on cuirass and shields, her foot resting on a helmet; in exergue M D X L, 40mm (Voltolina 317, this piece; Attwood 270; Armand I, 180, 11; Lawrence 88; Johnson/Martini 1163-4; Toderi/Vannel 939), tiny mark above the head and with an edge bruise, a contemporary striking, extremely fine with brown patina

Provenance: The Serenissima Collection, Arsantiqva, London, 19 April 2002, lot 109; The Estate of John R. Gaines, Morton & Eden, 21 April 2005, lot 16. Marcantonio Contarini, a Paduan statesman, was podestà of Vicenza in 1523-4 and of Padua 1539-40 as well as being an ambassador to the courts of Charles V and Pope Paul III. An example of this medal was placed under the foundations of the loggia in Piazza Contarena, Udine.