Medal: Bust of Sebastian Zäh

Antonio Abondio

model 1572 (cast 16th century) · Bronze (Copper alloy, with remains of gilding; the reverse partly silvered) · Robert Lehman Collection

The obverse presents a portrait of Sebastian Zäh (1527–1598), and on the reverse is his wife, Susanna Schlecht (born 1541). Sebastian Zäh or Zäch was an Augsburg merchant who had studied in Pisa and later worked as an agent for the firm of the Fugger family. In 1581 he was knighted by Emperor Maximilian II. Zäh was an early collector of the sculptures of Giambologna; his album amicorum contains the autographs of Giambologna (1592), Pietro Francavilla (1590), and Bernardo Vecchietti (1590). This medal is a sixteenth-century cast.

Artist

Antonio Abondio

Date

model 1572 (cast 16th century)

Medium

Bronze (Copper alloy, with remains of gilding; the reverse partly silvered)

Department

Robert Lehman Collection

Credit line

Robert Lehman Collection, 1975