Wedding medallion 1600 - 1625

Editor: So, this is the "Wedding Medallion" by Heinrich Aldegrever, made sometime between 1600 and 1625. It’s currently housed at the Met. It's an engraving – looks like on metal – depicting a wedding scene. It feels very staged and formal to me. What strikes you about this piece? Curator: What I find compelling is the context of such medallions. Who commissioned it, and for what purpose? Was it a gift, a personal memento, or even a form of propaganda? The text encircling the image – do we know what it translates to, and how it relates to the image? Editor: I think it’s supposed to say something like, "All that I desire from the fruits of God is love." So, very on the nose for a wedding! Curator: Precisely. So it’s both a public declaration and, perhaps, a personal plea. Medallions like these also served to project an image, a carefully constructed narrative of marital harmony and piety, particularly important for families of status. Consider, too, the visual language - the clothing, the setting... Editor: You mean, how everything looks so neat and ordered? It definitely suggests a very specific social class and ideal. Were medallions common gifts at the time? Curator: Yes, absolutely. Think of them as early modern versions of wedding albums, designed not just for immediate enjoyment, but also to transmit a message across generations. Their very creation was itself a social performance. Editor: That’s a really interesting way to think about it – as a sort of carefully managed PR for a family. I was just seeing it as a quaint historical object. Curator: Exactly! By examining it through a social and political lens, we reveal so much more about the values and power dynamics of the time.