# Double Portrait of Isaac Pontanus and Hendrik van Beek

- By: Michiel van Musscher (Rotterdam, 1645–1705)
- Date: 1689
- Medium: silver (metal), brass (alloy), oil paint (paint)
- Classification: painting
- Dimensions: diameter 9 cm
- Credit line: Gift of the Vereniging Rembrandt
- Museum: [Rijksmuseum](https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/collection/object/NG-2008-40--78b7c5ad21cd01b461711cfe2e263f13)
- Rights: [Public Domain Mark](http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/)
- Picture: https://iiif.micr.io/WMeNB/full/!1920,1080/0/default.jpg
- Who can see it: Tweens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

In the past, important events were graced with a medal, especially in well-to-do families. The occasion for this was usually a birth, wedding, or death. These medals not only remained in the family as a memento, but were also given to the guests at the baptism, wedding party, or funeral. Sometimes they were purely private in character, such as the gold medal a grandfather gave to his grandson.