QUEEN CHRISTINA OF SWEDEN

GUGLIELMADA, Giovanni Battista: Sweden, ca. 1680, Bronze, 41 mm
Obv: Bust of Christina (r) with pearls holding hair and pendant around neck    REGINA CHRISTINA
Rev: Radiating sun with face    NEC FALSO NEC ALIENO
Signed:  G F (in ringlets of hair)
Ref: Hildebrand 309/99; Molinari 37/106; De Bildt, pp. 61-63, figs. 33-34, p. 139, no. 23

In 1679 Queen Christina of Sweden (1626-1689), while in Rome, proposed to commission a series of 118 medals which would record her life. This group of medals was to rival the extensive medallic series of Louis XIV of France,  l'Histoire Metallique de Louis XIV. The sun was used by both Christina and Louis XIV as a personal symbol, but on her medals Christina attempted to outdo the emblematic sun used by the king. 
Other medals and additional information about Queen Christina of Sweden can be found in this section of Italian Baroque Medals

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