Oval medal with Pope Paul II

The oval medal features a front and back that are identical, depicting the pontiff facing right. The pontiff has a tonsure and wears a cope with a high border decorated with plant motifs, revealing a pleated dawn closed by a large round button with a central gem and a crown of pearls (Buonanni 1699, p. 87, no. XV; Hill 1910, p. 366, no. 27).
The legend explains the reason for creating the small bronze relief: it commemorates the pope as a promoter of peace in Italy. In the 1460s, the Italian peninsula experienced ongoing conflicts between various states. Pope Paul II, who began his papacy in 1464, initiated efforts to establish lasting peace. In February 1468, the pope issued a bull advocating for peace in Italy, which was published on April 25 and celebrated in May with processions, prayers, and hymns. The creation of this oval medal is associated with these celebrations. It exists in both its relief form and in its negative oval matrix, found at Palazzo Venezia along with other medals related to the pope. The matrix was used to create positive wax models that were cast in bronze to produce multiple copies of the medal. The museum also has a red sealing wax impression from this matrix, acquired by Adolfo Pergolini in 1928.
Originally attributed to Bartolomeo Bellano (Morsolin 1890), the oval portrait has been correctly identified as the work of Cristoforo di Geremia from Mantua, who was an official medallist of Paul II and active at the San Marco workshops (Hill 1910, p. 24; Hill 1930, p. 200, n. 772). The same bust on an oval medal also exists in versions featuring the Barbo coat of arms on the reverse, surmounted by the tiara and crossed keys (Zaccariotto 2020, p. 115, n. 86 for the type with the complete coat of arms; Modesti 2002, pp. 275–276, n. 100 for a type with a small coat of arms at the center), or with the Seal of Nero from the pope’s collection on the reverse (Modesti 2002, pp. 277–278, n. 101), or in a version with a beaded edge rather than one adorned with laurel leaves (Modesti 2002, pp. 273–274, n. 99).
Cristoforo di Geremia, the son of a goldsmith, was born in Mantua around 1410. He relocated to Rome in 1456, initially serving Cardinal Ludovico Scarampi Mezzarota and later his fellow countryman Ludovico Gonzaga. From 1465, he worked for Pope Paul II, creating numerous medals, some of which bear his signature, and restoring the bronze statue of Marcus Aurelius during Emperor Frederick III's visit to Rome in 1468. Cristoforo di Geremia died in Rome in 1476 (Pirzio Biroli Stefanelli 1985).

Giulia Zaccariotto

Good.

Obverse: [within circle, within border of laurel leaves] “PAVLO • VENETO • PAPE • II • ITALICE • PACIS • FVNDATORI [three ears of corn] ROMA [bunch of grapes]”;
Reverse: [in the circle, within a border of laurel leaves] “PAVLO • VENETO • PAPE • II • ITALICE • PACIS • FVNDATORI [three ears of corn] ROMA [a bunch of grapes]”

Purchased from Scipione Buonfili, 1920;
Rome, Museo Nazionale di Palazzo Venezia, 1920.

Buonanni Filippo, Numismata Pontificum Romanorum quae a tempore Martini V usque ad annum MDCXCIX vel authoritate publica, vel privato genio in lucem prodiere, Romae 1699;
Morsolin Bernardo, Medaglie del Vellano di Padova in onore di Paolo II, in «Rivista italiana di numismatica e scienze affini», III, 1890, 4, pp. 567-576;
Hill George Francis, The Medals of Paul II, in «Numismatic Chronicle», s. 4, X, 1910, pp. 340-369;
Hill George Francis, A Corpus of Italian Medals of the Renaissance before Cellini, 2 voll., London 1930;
Weiss Roberto, Un umanista veneziano. Papa Paolo II, Venezia 1958;
Balbi De Caro Silvana, Le medaglie del Museo del Palazzo di Venezia in Roma, in «Medaglia», I, 1971, 2, pp. 7-15;
Balbi De Caro Silvana, Di alcune medaglie di  Paolo II rinvenute nelle mura del Palazzo di Venezia in Roma, in «Medaglia», III, 1973, 5, pp. 24-34;
Pirzio Biroli Stefanelli Lucia, Cristoforo di Geremia, ad vocem, in Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, XXXI, Roma 1985.
Modesti Adolfo, Corpus numismatum omnium Romanorum Pontificum. I. Da san Pietro (42-67) a Adriano VI (1522-1523), Roma 2002;
Modigliani Anna, Paolo II, papa, ad vocem, in Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, LXXXI, Roma 2014;
Zaccariotto Giulia, La collezione di medaglie Mario Scaglia. II. Catalogo, Bologna-Cinisello Balsamo 2020.