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Lot 108
Matteo de’ Pasti (fl. 1441-68), Isotta degli Atti (mistress and later wife of Sigismondo Malatesta), bronze medal, bust right, hair held with crossed bands and falling down in two masses behind, rev., the Malatesta elephant standing in a meadow of flowers; dated below, M.CCC.XLVI, 84mm (Hill 187; Armand I, 21, 19; Pollard 33 = Kress 63; Scher, Currency of Fame, 13), pierced, a very fine contemporary cast with dark patina. The date 1446 is thought to refer to the year in which Sigismondo Malatesta made Isotta his mistress, the medal itself most likely dating to around 1453 or shortly thereafter when she was accepted as a member of the Malatesta family. These unsigned medals have been found under foundation stones although the present example shows no signs of having been excavated.
Lot 109
Sperandio of Mantua (c. 1425-1504), Camilla Sforza (widow of Costanzo Sforza), bronze medal, bust three-quarters left wearing widow’s veil, rev., SIC ITVR AD ASTRA, a female figure seated on a seat composed of the foreparts of a unicorn and a hound; signed below, OPVS SPERANDEI, 83.2 mm (Hill 399; Arm. I, 74, 43; Pollard 90 = Kress 130; Bargello 114), pierced and with second attempted piercing, a very fine early cast. Ex Leu 74, Zurich, 19-21 October 1998, lot 725. The inscription on the reverse (“this is the way to the stars”) is from Virgil’s Aeneid, Book IX, 64. Sperandio’s design must have been influenced by the reverse of one of Matteo de’ Pasti’s medals of Sigismondo Malatesta showing Fortitude on a seat formed of foreparts of elephants; here the unicorn and hound represent Chastity and Fidelity.
Lot 114
Bolognese School, Pirro Malvezzi (patrician of Bologna, 1429-1505), bronze medal, 1477, bust left wearing armour emblazoned with lion’s mask in medallion, rev., DO BERARDVS I CCCCLXXVII, Malvizzi in Roman attire seated on monster with lion’s head and body and dragon’s tail, 72.5mm (Hill 1119; Arm. I, 58 and III, 14), pierced, a very fine early cast. The attribution in Hill to a certain Do. Berardus, otherwise unknown, is not at all certain. Hill considered the work influenced by Cristoforo di Geremia, especially his medal of Alfonso of Aragon (Hill 754), noting the similarities inherent in the armour worn by the sitters in each case as well as other aspects. This cast is extremely similar to the example in Paris illustrated by Hill, repeating the doubling of the date on the reverse.
Lot 115
Leone Leoni (c. 1509-90), Andrea Doria (Genoese admiral, 1466-1560), bronze medal, bust right with trident at shoulder, rev., galley moving to right with small boat containing two figures in the sea below, 40.5mm (Attwood 5; Arm. I, 164, 9; Pollard 490 = Kress 431; Bargello 712), edge filed down, a very fine early cast. The medal commemorates the release of Leoni from the Papal galleys to which he had been condemned for the murderous attack on the Pope’s jeweller Pellegrino de Leuti. His release in 1541 came about through the intercession of Andrea Doria, here depicted as Neptune.
Lot 117
Leone Leoni, Charles V (Holy Roman Emperor, 1519-1556), bronze medal (1549), laureate bust right, rev., Jupiter repelling the Giants who attempt to climb Mount Olympus, 73mm (Attwood 24; Arm. I, 162, 1; Pollard 492 = Kress 426; Bernhart 163.2), old cast, about extremely fine with brown patina. The cast is extremely close to the example in the Lanna collection (1911), no. 626.
Lot 120
Giovanni Antonio de’ Rossi, Pope Pius IV (1559-65), uniface lead medal, regnal year 1 (1559-60), bust left wearing cope, the border of which is embroidered with a reclining figure of St John the Evangelist, and a medallion with bust of Christ, 72mm (cf. Arm. II, 216, 15; Pollard 424 = Kress 370a), pierced, some edge damage, very fine contemporary cast. Although unsigned, the medal bears similarities to signed medals by Rossi of Marcellus II (1555) and Paul IV (1556) – see Attwood p. 130-131. Rossi was employed in Florence in 1556, returning to Rome in 1559, the time this medal was created, when he took up a position at the papal mint.
Lot 121
Alfonso Ruspagiari (1521-1576), Unidentified Woman and Her Admirer, uniface lead medal, sculptural female bust right, her hair elaborately dressed and coiled, wearing earring and pendant necklace, her breasts exposed and with drapery tied around her midriff and on her left shoulder; her portrait set within oval frame from the right edge of which a male head looks towards her; signed on the truncated right arm, A R, 69mm (Attwood 646; Arm. I, 216,5; Pollard 519 = Kress 450; Scher, Currency of Fame, 73 and p. 146), pierced, a very fine contemporary cast, very rare. The medal has been much discussed, in particular by Mary Levkoff in Currency of Fame (pp. 187-7), who described it as “one of the most compellingly romantic images in medallic art from the Renaissance”. The principal subject represents a sculptural image of womanhood admired by a male head emerging from the scrollwork of the oval frame, perhaps an allusion to Ovid’s story of Pygmalion, the sculptor who fell in love with the statue of a woman that he had created. Alternatively, if in fact the second head is female then the medal portrays youth and old age and becomes an illustration of Vanitas.
Lot 122
Giambattista Cambi, called Bombarda, Leonora Cambi (the artist’s wife), uniface lead medal, bust right placed on scrolled plinth, wearing elaborate drapery leaving her left breast exposed, pearl necklace, earring and hair adorned with volutes and a veil; signed below, BOM, 72mm (Attwood 667; Arm. I, 214, 1; Pollard 523 = Kress 454; Scher, Currency of Fame, 75), irregular edge, thin crack by neck, a very fine contemporary cast. Ex Michael Hall collection, Baldwin’s, 4 May 2010, lot 169.
Lot 123
Giambattista Cambi, called Bombarda, Anna Maurella d’Iseo, uniface lead medal, bust right aged 15, wearing elaborate drapery leaving her left breast exposed, pearl necklace, earring and hair adorned with jewels and a veil, 62mm (Pollard 525 = Kress 456 = Arm. II, 208, 24), a very fine contemporary cast. Another version of this medal names her as a member of the Oldofredi family of Iseo, also aged 15, presumably cast after the present medal at the time of her marriage (Attwood 674).
Lot 125
Gaspare Mola, Urban VIII (Pope, 1623-44), bronze-gilt medal for the opening of the iron foundry at Monteleone, 45mm (Bortolotti 641; Lincoln 1059), repaired at top, ink number on worn area of reverse, very fine; G.F. Travani, Giovanni I Corner (Venetian Doge, 1625-29), bronze-gilt restitution medal, bust left, rev., inscription, 1647, 47.5mm (Voltolina 937), pierced, very fine (2)
Lot 126
Anonymous (17th century), Christ and a Martyr, oval bronze-gilt locket in the form of a box medal, with image of Christ facing left and the lid with image of a martyr wearing a friar’s habit and with a dagger embedded in his skull, 43mm x 38mm x 13.6mm, very fine with loop for suspension, very rare. The identity of the friar martyr may be the Dominican St Peter of Verona (1206-52) or the Carmelite St Angelus of Jerusalem (1185-1220) both of whose attributes include a bladed instrument embedded in the skull. The bust of Christ is taken from a late 16th century medal (Attwood 196). Hill noted that it is the earliest medallic image of Christ wearing the Crown of Thorns.
Lot 127
Anonymous (17th or 18th century, possibly Netherlandish), Benvenuto Cellini (1500-71), uniface cast silver medal with bust viewed from behind and head turned three-quarters facing, his left arm raised, wearing gown with fur collar, 50.4mm, very fine. Ex Hermann Vogel collection and Pogge collection, part II, Hamburger, Nov. 1903, lot 4404; also Sotheby’s, 9 April 1992, lot 485. Another example of this medal is in the British Museum (acq. 1966 and currently placed among medals described as “17th Century Italian, unknown artists”). The present portrait is taken from a painting by Vasari of Cosimo I surrounded by his artists but it actually copies the image there of Vasari himself (Cellini is shown elsewhere as an old man). A print by Joseph Collyer (1747-1827) of Cellini utilises this same image (described as after Vasari) and finally the image was used on a 19th century medal by T.W. Ingram (fl. 1820-65).
Lot 131
Antonio Selvi, Richard Molesworth (1680-1758, 3rd Viscount Molesworth), bronze medal (1712), bust right in armour and ornate helmet, rev., Bellona grasping the arm of Fortune, 89mm (Vannel & Toderi 133; MI II, 391/245; Eimer 453), extremely fine and very rare, brown patina Of Anglo-Irish descent, both he and his elder brother John Molesworth commissioned medals by Selvi when the latter was British ambassador in Tuscany. He succeeded as the third viscount on the death of his brother in 1726. He was a military man and aide-de-camp to Marlborough. At the Battle of Ramillies he is said to have rescued Marlborough at a critical moment by giving up his own horse to the Duke who had been momentarily unseated. He rose to become commander-in-chief, Ireland in 1751 and was promoted to field marshall in 1757, the year before his death.
Lot 133
Gioacchino Francesco Travani (fl. 1634-75), Alexander VII (Pope, 1655-67), uniface bronze medal, bust right with hand raised in blessing, 93.4mm (BDM VI, 130), extremely fine The medal is usually accompanied by a reverse of the fountain of Santa Maria in Trastevere. There are two thin cracks in the flan before and behind the portrait. There is a small repair to the edge at 2 o'clock.
Lot 135
Peter Paul Borner, Innocent XII (Pope, 1691-1700), large bronze medal (1694), bust left in cope and wearing Papal tiara, rev., view of the Dogana (customs house) built at the Ripa Grande, 95mm (Bortolotti p. 106; BDM I, 218 erroneously attributed to J.B. Borner), extremely fine with dark patina, very rare The medal is discussed in an essay by Augusto Donini in Medaglia 10, Milan 1975, pp. 131-135. The reverse is taken from a print by Alessandro Specchi showing the building designed by the architect Mattia de’ Rossi. Borner was a Swiss medallist and die engraver who worked at the mint in Rome and a number of Papal coins bear his signature.
Lot 141
Giovanni Zanobio Weber (1760-1805), Johanna of Austria (first wife of Francesco I de’ Medici), bust right, rev., eagle with young soaring in the sky, 47mm (cf. BDM VI, 406), about extremely fine A medal of Francesco I de Medici by G.Z. Weber was sold in these rooms, 7 December 2017, lot 777.
Lot 143
French School (early 15th century), Heraclius (Byzantine emperor, 610-641) and the Return of the True Cross to Jerusalem, lead medal cast after the gold example in the collection of Jean Duc de Berry (1340-1416), crowned bust of Heraclius right on crescent moon, his face lit by light rays from above, rev., Heraclius holding the Cross, seated in triumphal car drawn right by three horses, 97mm, 93.3mm excluding outer rim (Jones, BMC, 5-7; Arm. II, 8, 6; Pollard II, 598 = Kress 525; Scher, Currency of Fame, 2), twice pierced, edge knock, a very fine early cast An extremely rare silver repoussé image of the reverse of this medal was in the collection of Sir Timothy Clifford, sold in these rooms on 13 June 2016, lot 79, and is now in The Cloisters Museum, New York. See also, Currency of Fame, pp.32-37 on the medals of the Duc de Berry.
Lot 189
Elizabeth I, sixth issue, pound, m.m. lion and tun/tun, crowned bust 7A left with long hair and richly-ornamented dress, rev., square-topped shield with E and R at sides, colon/double annulet stops, 11.11g., (Schneider 797 (same dies); N. 2008; S. 2534), with a light test-mark but a full, round coin with an attractive red/golden tone, extremely fine, rare
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110054 item(s)/page