---
title: 'Medal of Elizabeth I: portrait in a ruff, reverse an ark on stormy waves with SAEVAS TRANQVILLA PER VNDAS (18th-century aftercast of a 1588 model)'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/elizabeth-i-ark-medal-aftercast-1588/
description: 'A bronze oval medal: on one side Elizabeth I in profile in a large ruff, with her name and titles; on the other a ship, an ark, riding a rough sea…'
section: Collection
---

[Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)

[![Medal of Elizabeth I: portrait in a ruff, reverse an ark on stormy waves with SAEVAS TRANQVILLA PER VNDAS (18th-century aftercast of a 1588 model)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/elizabeth-i-ark-medal-aftercast-1588.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/elizabeth-i-ark-medal-aftercast-1588.jpg)

# Medal of Elizabeth I: portrait in a ruff, reverse an ark on stormy waves with SAEVAS TRANQVILLA PER VNDAS (18th-century aftercast of a 1588 model)

A bronze oval medal: on one side Elizabeth I in profile in a large ruff, with her name and titles; on the other a ship, an ark, riding a rough sea beneath clouds and rays with the motto 'calm through the raging waves'. It ties the queen to divine protection at the time of the Spanish Armada.

## Text on the object

Original (Latin) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
Obverse: ELIZABETH·D·G·ANGLIE·F·ET·HI·REG

Reverse: SAEVAS·TRANQVILLA·PER·VNDAS
```

English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader)

```
Obverse: Elizabeth, by the grace of God, queen of England, France and Ireland.

Reverse: Calm through the raging waves.
```

Both legends are worn in places and the reverse is read clockwise from the upper right; the F is expanded as F(RANCIE) and the final REG as REG(INA) from the standard formula, not from clear letters. The reverse reading is read with less certainty than the obverse.

[← The Armada Portrait of Elizabeth I (Royal Museums Greenwich version), oil on panel](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/armada-portrait-elizabeth-i-greenwich-1588/) [Mughal gold coin of Jahangir, dated 1028 AH, with a bull inside a ring of sun rays →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/jahangir-gold-zodiac-coin-sun-rays-1619/)

## Using the same techniques

- [Fragments of the Abydos king list from Ramesses II's temple, in the British Museum: rows of royal cartouches](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/abydos-king-list-ramesses-ii-temple-british-museum/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer)
- [Clay cylinder with the Ehulhul inscription of Nabonidus, king of Babylon, describing work on three temples](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/cylinder-nabonidus-ehulhul-inscription-555bce/) (Neo Babylonian Empire · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Seated limestone statue of Hatshepsut as king, with feminine royal titles on the throne, reassembled from fragments broken up at Deir el-Bahri](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/hatshepsut-seated-statue-limestone-met-1458bce/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Transfer, Testimonial)
- [Glazed-brick panel with a striding lion, from Babylon (reign of Nebuchadnezzar II)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ishtar-gate-panel-striding-lion-nebuchadnezzar-ii-604bce/) (Neo Babylonian Empire · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Limestone relief block of Ramesses II wearing the White Crown, a jubilee relief from his temple at Herakleopolis](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/jubilee-relief-ramesses-ii-herakleopolis-met-05-4-256/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Line drawing of the Great Kadesh battle relief on the walls of the Ramesseum, from Breasted's History of Egypt](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/kadesh-relief-ramesseum-breasted-drawing-1275bce/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer). Content note: A drawing of an Egyptian royal battle relief showing Hittite soldiers and horses killed and drowned, as the king's monument presented the battle; it is a one-sided image made by the winning side's own account.
- [Gypsum alabaster slab inscribed in cuneiform, from Nimrud (Kalhu), reign of Ashurnasirpal II](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/nimrud-slab-ashurnasirpal-ii-inscription-883bce/) (Neo Assyrian Empire · 0000 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Egyptian alabaster jar inscribed with the name of Xerxes the Great in four languages (Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian, Egyptian), 486 to 466 BCE](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/xerxes-jar-four-languages-486bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Transfer)