Printed from Woolley & Wallis

Description

Charles I, gilt-silver portrait medallion, c.1642, in the style of Jean or Claude Warin, bust right wearing lace collar over armour, two sashes, one with Garter George, his hair long with lovelock over his left shoulder, CAROLVS I DG MAGN BRIT FRANC ET HIB REX ET ÆTATIS SVÆ, rev., Aurora in her chariot drawn by a winged horse, VIRTVTIS FORMÆQ PRÆVIA, 70mm, 90.44g (MI 292/107; Platt p. 241, type B), integral shaped suspension loop with ring. A handsome medal, good very fine and extremely rare.

This medal was originally known only from the specimen in the collection of Edward Pretty (see MI, where attributed to Jean Warin), which came to light when sold in the Hever Castle Collection sale (Sotheby, 15 June, 1969). [Sir] Mark Jones did not attribute the medal in BMC French Medals, however a note in his hand was sold with the specimen, in silvered bronze, in the Papillon Collection (Bonhams, 25 March, 1998, lot 24), stating, "It seems likely that it is a relatively early and possibly 17th century". The reverse of the medal is a direct copy of the reverse of Trezzo's medal of Ippolita di Ferdinando Gonzaga (Attwood 71; Kress 438).

Provenance: Baldwin Auction, 5 May, 2005 (lot 1417).