Penning met portret van Albrecht, aartshertog van Oostenrijk, en Isabella Clara Eugenia, infante van Spanje 1618

This medal portraying Archduke Albert of Austria and Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia of Spain was made anonymously around 1618. The method employed was striking, where a design is hammered or pressed into metal. In this case, the designs were incised into dies, and then used to impress the image onto the blank metal. The value of coins and medals like this came not only from the preciousness of the metal, but from the skill of the die cutter, and the authority that the object conveyed. As such, the medal operates on many levels. It testifies to the wealth and reach of its commissioners, Albert and Isabella. The repetitive action of striking many coins would have been performed by skilled, if not particularly well-compensated, laborers. So, even the simplest coin carries a wealth of information. It is a confluence of material, making, and social context – all critical to understanding its full meaning.