Médailles en mouvement: la réception des médailles de Louis XIV à la croisée des cultures (Medals in motion: The medals of Louis XIV as diplomatic gifts)

Abstract

This paper analyses the place of Louis XIV's medals, and texts that describe them, in French international diplomacy during the reign of le Roi Soleil. When the ambassadors of King Phra Narai of Siam came to France in 1686 they brought with them lavish gifts to honor their royal host. Among the many items the Siamese ambassadors received in return as they toured the king's domains were large gold and silver medals struck to commemorate the grandeur of Louis XIV. These medals were presented in lavishly decorated cases along with written explanations of their iconography. Likewise, when Louis XIV's ambassador to Persia, Pierre-Victor Michel, was sent to Isfahan in the early-eighteenth century he took with him large silver medals of Louis XIV along with a copy of Médailles sur les principaux événements du règne de Louis le Grand translated into Persian by François Pétis de la Croix. Analysis of the iconography of the medals chosen to represent Louis XIV and his nation to foreign courts will be presented here alongside an examination of archival material relating to the production and distribution of these medals as diplomatic gifts. This study reveals the political message that medals could convey as part of a sophisticated diplomatic engagement between France and her foreign allies. Moreover, it provides an insight into the dissemination of Louis XIV's histoire métallique as a means to perpetuate the history of the king beyond the confines of ancien régime France.