Coins and Historical Medals

World Historical Medals, ITALY, Arrival of the Japanese Christian Delegation, 1585, a silver medal by N. de Bonis, bust of Sixtus V left, rev. head of an angel above ab regibvs iaponior prima ad roma pont legatio et obedientia above date, 36mm, 18.93g (cf. Lincoln 754 [Gregory XIII]). Extremely fine and toned, extremely rare £600-800

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Coins and Historical Medals from the Collection formed by the late Revd. Charles Campbell.

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The idea of sending a Japanese embassy to Europe was that of the Jesuit Alessandro Valignano. The leader of the group, Mancio Ito, left Nagasaki in February 1582, in company with three other teenage boys of noble descent, two servants and an interpreter. They arrived in Lisbon in August 1584, via Macau and Goa, and then proceeded to Rome, via audiences with Philip II and Francesco de’ Medici. In Rome they met Gregory XIII and had a private audience with him on 3 April 1585, a week before his death, subsequently participating in the coronation of the new pope, Sixtus V, on 1 May 1585; the ambassadors arrived back in Japan in July 1590