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A GROUP OF SIX BRONZE AND GILT-BRONZE MEDALS
Lot 73 PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE EUROPEAN COLLECTION (LOTS 73-75)

A GROUP OF SIX BRONZE AND GILT-BRONZE MEDALS

ITALIAN, 15TH TO 18TH CENTURY

Fermé6 December 2012

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GBP 6,875

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A GROUP OF SIX BRONZE AND GILT-BRONZE MEDALS
ITALIAN, 15TH TO 18TH CENTURY
Including: a portrait medal of Filippo Maria Visconti and on the reverse a knight in armour on horseback with two attendants, inscribed 'OPVS.PISANI.PICTORIS'; a medal of a phallic satyr, the reverse with a profile portrait of a faun; a rectangular gilt-bronze portrait profile medal of an Italian nobleman; a profile portrait relief of Charles V, after Leone Leoni; a gilt-bronze medal of Pope Clement XIII, the reverse with an allegory of painting, sculpture and architecture, dated 1762 and signed to the reverse '.HAMERANO.F.'; a high-relief portrait of Diva Faustina, the reverse with a battle scene
1 1/2 to 4 in. (3.7 to 10 cm.) diam.

Note du spécialiste

In the present lot we have a fine example of a medal of Filippo Maria Visconti, the Duke of Milan, by Pisanello, circa 1441, who is believed to have developed the two-sided Renaissance portrait medal. His richly decorative frescoes, courtly and elegant painted portraits and highly original portrait medals made him one of the most popular artists of the day.

The design of the medal with a head of a satyr in high relief, its features comprising male genitalia, was probably composed by Giuseppe Acrimboldo (1527-1593) an Italian painter known for creating imaginative portrait heads made entirely of differing objects.
The medal of Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, circa 1519, is a variant of Leone Leoni's medal of the emperor, and is known from an electrotype in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London. Another version of the same medal is illustrated in A. Norris and I. Weber, Medals and Plaquettes from the Molinari Collection at Bowdoin College, USA, 1976, fig. 322.