650 lire Asa single
Object Details
- Description
- On April 9, 1991, Vatican City issued a series of twelve definitive stamps. The stamps feature details from six of fourteen lunettes depicting Christ's ancestors. Painted by Michelangelo Buonarroti, the lunettes appear in the Sistine Chapel.
- The values and designs are as follows:
- 50- and 100-lire - Lunette of Eleazar
- 150- and 250-lire- Lunette of Jacob
- 350- and 400-lire - Lunette of Josiah
- 500- and 650-lire - Lunette of Asa
- 800- and 1,000-lire - Lunette of Zerubbabel
- 2,000- and 3,000-lire - Lunette of Azor
- Named for Pope Sixtus IV (1414-1484), the chapel was constructed between 1475 and 1481 and is located on the site of a fourteenth century chapel, the "Capella Magna." Immediately following its completion, artists Perugino, Sandro Botticelle, Domenico Chirlandaio, Cosimo Rosselli,, and Luca Signorelli painted the side walls with scenes from the lives of Moses and of Christ. From 1508 to 1512, Michelangelo painted his famous ceiling frescoes of Old Testament scenes, ranging from the Creation to the story of Noah. At the same time, he painted prophets and sibyls along the sides as well as the Ancestors of Christ in the lunettes above the chapel windows. Between 1536 and 1542, he painted the Last Judgment on the wall behind the main altar.
- The restoration of the Sistine Chapel began with the cleaning of the paintings on the side walls (1964 to 1974). This was followed by the restoration of the roof (1975), the cleaning of the frescoes on the entrance wall (1979), of the lunettes (1980-84), and of the ceiling (1985-90).
- Helio Courvoisier S.A. of Switzerland produced the stamps on white chalky paper in multicolor rotogravure print. They are horizontal in format, measuring 33.4 x 28mm. They have a perforation of 11 3/4, and the Vatican issued them in sheets of twenty.
- Crimando, Thomas. "Restoration of the Sistine Chapel." Vatican Notes 40, no. 1 (July 1991): 1, 3-4.
- Data Source
- National Postal Museum
- Date
- April 9, 1991
- Object number
- 1993.2015.420
- Type
- Postage Stamps
- Medium
- paper; ink (multicolored)
- Place
- VATICAN CITY (independent city state)
- See more items in
- National Postal Museum Collection
- Title
- Scott Catalogue Vatican City 877
- Topic
- International Stamps & Mail
- Record ID
- npm_1993.2015.420
