The Stephen K. and Janie Woo Scher Collection of portrait medals is unparalleled among those in private hands. Noted for its comprehensiveness and outstanding quality, it includes medals dating from the fifteenth to the nineteenth centuries.

This new volume, the result of a the Schers’ gift of 450 medals to The Frick Collection in 2016, brings to life these masterpieces of small-scale sculpture, conveying the circumstances of their creation and their historic significance. Beginning in the Italian Renaissance, medals were made to commemorate individuals and to acknowledge specific events or milestones, such as marriages, deaths, coronations, and military victories. They were precious, portable, and popular among the wealthy and powerful. This book provides a concise, fascinating introduction to their artistry.