Medal: Self-portrait model ca. 1566 or 1571 (cast 18th or 19th century) Alfonso Ruspagiari The obverse shows a half-length, frontal self-portraitwith the sitters head turned left and holding a syrinx inhis right hand; the reverse is incused. This very painterlymedal could have been made at the occasion of Ruspagiarisappointment as superintendent of the mint at ReggionellEmilia in 1571. The age of the sitter is about forty-five so the medal may date to about 1566.The composition was basedon a drawing of a female bust attributed to Lelio Orsi(Galleria Estense, Modena), which Ruspagiari couldhave transformed into a self-portrait. By doing so hedeliberately played with his sexual identity, possiblyintending himself to be seen as an uomo universale shapedafter Platos androgyne. The drawing may have been made by Orsi after the medal. The weak aftercast may date to the eighteenth or nineteenth century.. Medal: Self-portrait 460858