'[f.132]
Of Medals
Bastien del Piombo imitated old medals excellently & counterfeited ym.
So did il Padovano Vecchio & when he stampt his Cunnia upon an old one that had body & the figure almost worne out confound the chiefest antiquaries.
The out compass of a true medall is many times rough wch is impossible to imitate.
Letters, are never clean & pure in a Counterfeit. Boulai they call them, bungling.
Always in the antique the Circle which is most difficult to imitate truly, is of a true measure & diameter equally the reverse and face. Sigr. Ignatio.
Antique are lighter & of better & purer metal than are ye Counterfeit.
Tis usuall to grynd a medall & clapp another fairer reverse also from a ground one. idem.
[f.133]
Also to accommodate false ones with cutting tools helping the letters, much furbary is, & has bin usd in Medalls. idem.
[f.134]
To take off Medalls
To take off the imprese of a medall of Gold or Silver or brasse.
Oyle the medall, lay it on a Stone, or Tavolozza or board. Oyle round about it.
Temper Gesso da presa being ground fine dry with water let it be temperd, – anyth, & powre it upon the medall. Then when dry take it off with Soulfo & Cinabro.
There are 3 sorts of gesso
1 da designare
2 da presa a Trevertino. Cotto & poi pistato.
non cotto come la Calce.
Colatura di Solfo, i.e. un certo solfo piu gentile, piu puro.
Soulfo (di Cola is refyn’d
- (di Vergine is unrefynd.
Sulfo fino e ben sottile polverrizata (in ugual quantita de Nero di Fumo ridotti insieme in polvere finissimo. Mix ym with a little Tallow, or water oyle olive. Powre this upon the Medalls putting pastboard about the medall. Mr Raymond.
He tooke clay off a barrel head brick dust well ground. Chalke, mixt with oyne lyndsed this took off ye mold.
he took off Urban’s head easily he tryd many things but were proved but these.'
(BL, Egerton MS 1636, ff.132-3; Burnett 2020b, p. 1201)
