Vijfentwintigjarig regeringsjubileum van Koningin Wilhelmina 1923 1923

Curator: Immediately I feel a kind of warm nostalgia looking at this... It reminds me of a vintage trinket I would have kept from my grandmother. Editor: I can see that. This is a medal, a work by Johannes Cornelis Wienecke commemorating Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands' twenty-fifth jubilee. The date etched onto its surface reads 1923. Curator: Twenty-five years on the throne! Quite an achievement. And the artist… I wonder, did he feel pressure capturing her likeness just right? I can almost sense the weight of responsibility in those refined lines. Editor: Considering its function, it’s fascinating to look at the symbols employed. You see Wilhelmina’s profile rendered in sharp relief, almost classical in its style, and then on the reverse, there is this intricately designed heraldic imagery. Curator: Right, like a family crest... Eagles and shields – symbols of power, stability, tradition. All the heavy hitters are present! Editor: Precisely. Medals like these, beyond being commemorative objects, functioned as vehicles of visual propaganda, embedding national identity with potent iconography and imagery. This type of heraldic design spoke to something very deep within the population. Curator: So it’s more than just a shiny object. It’s a story pressed into metal… a miniature monument celebrating both the queen and the enduring spirit of the nation, I suppose. It does exude permanence, doesn’t it? I like imagining all the hands it may have passed through. Editor: A small token capable of holding large collective meaning. And with it now being a part of the Rijksmuseum's collection, we can continue reflecting on our collective memory. Curator: Absolutely. And it prompts you to ask about those past moments. Who were the recipients? How did this feel? And is there more to history beyond portraits? Editor: Exactly, beyond any profile, this is the visual record of history, of collective identity—carefully etched and preserved through time.