Portrait medal of Dido, Queen of Carthage (obverse); A View of Carthag

A bronze medal shows a woman in profile facing right, her hair braided and wound with a laurel-like wreath, and her shoulders draped in a cloak. Greek letters run around the rim, with a small ornament at the edge. The bronze has a warm brown patina, and the modeling is crisp and classical in manner.

Look closer: A small ornament or mark sits at the rim near the lower right edge of the medal.

Artist

Alessandro Cesati

Date

ca. 1550

Medium

Bronze (Copper alloy with light brown patina).

Source

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Size

3906 × 4000 px

Credit (appreciated, not required for public-domain works): The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Robert Lehman Collection, 1975