Medal commemorating the marriage of Mary, Queen of Scots to the Dauphin Francis of France, with Mary's privy seal and signet ring

Medal commemorating the marriage of Mary, Queen of Scots to the Dauphin Francis of France, with Mary's privy seal and signet ring

John West

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This plate shows the privy seal (above) and signet ring (below) of Mary, Queen of Scots, flanked by the obverse and reverse of the commemorative medal. It is likely based on a plate by John West, included in A Souvenir of the Abbey and Palace of Holyrood – "Medal Struck at Paris Commemorative of the Marriage of Francis Dauphin of France & Mary Queen of Scots 24 April A.D. 1558." West's engraving includes five additional seals not depicted here.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Medal commemorating the marriage of Mary, Queen of Scots to the Dauphin Francis of France, with Mary's privy seal and signet ringMedal commemorating the marriage of Mary, Queen of Scots to the Dauphin Francis of France, with Mary's privy seal and signet ringMedal commemorating the marriage of Mary, Queen of Scots to the Dauphin Francis of France, with Mary's privy seal and signet ringMedal commemorating the marriage of Mary, Queen of Scots to the Dauphin Francis of France, with Mary's privy seal and signet ringMedal commemorating the marriage of Mary, Queen of Scots to the Dauphin Francis of France, with Mary's privy seal and signet ring

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.