Памятные медали времени Великого посольства 1697–1698 годов

The first foreign travel of Peter the Great in 1697–1698 was commemorated by a number of medals produced by Dutch and German masters. Among them are the medal commemorating the meeting of Peter I and William III of Orange in Utrecht in 1697 made by Jan Smeltzing and Nikolas Chevalier, the medal commemorating the taking of Azov by the Russian troops in 1696 by Jan Boskam, and the medal in honour of Fedor Golovin by an unknown artist. The circumstances under which the medals contemporary to the visit of the Great Embassy to Holland were struck remain uncertain. The author carefully studies the documents related to the Great Embassy (account-books) and specifies the attribution of the medal commemorating the taking of Azov and Tavan by the Russian troops: produced in Holland in 1898, it had long been considered to be a medal “For the Suppression of the Streletsky Mutiny”. Referring to a number of documents, the author also suggests that the dies for the medal in honour of Fedor Golovin might be attributed to the medal-maker from Amsterdam R. Arondeaux.