Beschreibung:

A LARGE COLLECTION OF 19TH CENTURY BRONZE, ELECTOTYPE AND BOIS DURCI PLAQUES Comprising: A GROUP OF EIGHT PORTRAIT RELIEFS INCLUDING ONE BY FERDINAND BARBEDIENNE (FRENCH, 1810-1892) 1. FERDINAND BARBEDIENNE (FRENCH, 1810-1892): A LARGE UNIFACE MEDALLIC CAST BRONZE OF SOCRATES, his bearded head to left, a band in his hair, signed below ‘F. BARBEDIENNE FONDEUR’, suspension loop and ring, 194mm., Barbedienne’s foundry was one of the most prolific of the Belle Époque, and from 1865, President of the Reunion of Bronze Makers. 2. SOCRATES: a smaller bronze medallic head of a bald Socrates to right, name below, 103mm. 3. EMPEROR TITUS: an impressed fruit wood medal of the Emperor Titus (Titus Flavius Vespasianus, 39-79- 81), 94mm. 4. DOMENICO AMBROGI (ITALIAN, c. 1600-1678): A GROUP OF FOUR DECORATIVE ELECTROTYPE COPIES OF LARGE UNIFACE MEDALS OF ITALIAN POETS, each of medals signed below truncation, ‘Domenico Ambrogi Fece’, mid 19th century, made by the electrotype process: TORQUATO TASSO (1544- 1595), poet, laureate and bearded bust left, TORQVATO TASSO above, 136.5mm; FRANCESCO PETRARCA (1304-1374), scholar, poet and called the Father of Humanism, laureate and hooded bust left, FRANCESCO PETRARCA above, 140mm; DANTE ALIGHIERI (c. 1265-1321), poet, literary theorist and writer, philosopher and political thinker, laureate and capped bust right, DANTE ALIGHIERI above, 138mm; LUDOVICO ARIOSTO (1474-1533), poet, laureate and bearded bust right, ARIOSTO above, 140mm. £80-120 Literature: Piero Voltolino, The Story of Venice through medals, 3 vols., 1998, Venice, no. 1020 (Tasso)Arsantiqua, 8 November 2002, The Serenissima Collection, part II, lot 69 (Tasso) 5. DOMENICO AMBROGI (ITALIAN, c. 1600-1678): A DECORATIVE ELECTROTYPE COPY OF A LARGE UNIFACE MEDAL OF FRANCESCO PETRARCA (1304-1374), scholar, poet and called the Father of Humanism, laureate and hooded bust left, FRANCESCO PETRARCA above, unsigned, with integral border, in turned mahogany frame, 188mm. -EIGHT 19TH CENTURY FRENCH BOIS DURCI PORTRAIT PLAQUES comprising three of Italian interest, Victor Emanuel II (1820-1878; King, Sardinia 1849-1861; Italy 1861-1878), head to right, 113-114mm.; Guiseppe Garibaldi (1807-1882), republican, patriot and soldier, contributed to unification under the House of Savoy; Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour (1810–1861), leading figure in the movement towards unification and the Kingdom’s first Prime Minister, his head to left in a turned oak frame, 112.5-114mm., and five of religious interest, including Pope Pius IX, Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti, 1792–1846- 1878), 1859, his bust right wearing zucchetto; with others of Christ (2), head to left with crown of thorns and radiant halo (this once gilt on one); and the Virgin Mary (2), a sensitive portrait, veiled head to right and nimbate, 113.5 – 114.5mm., each signed with ‘wing’ below truncation, (8) - A FURTHER COLLECTION OF BOIS DURCI (FRENCH, mid to late 19th Century), ETC comprising: 1. ‘BOIS DURCI’, a pair depicting Napoleon III (1808-1873) and the Empress Eugénie (1826-1920), both 1859, heads to left and right; 2. 'BOIS DURCI', Alphonse de Lamartine (1790-1869), statesman, poet and historian, one of those instrumental in the founding of the Second Republic, his bare head to right, each signed with ‘wing’ below truncation, 112.5- 113.5mm.; 3. 'BOIS DURCI', A SCARCE ‘BOIS DURCI’ PORTRAIT PLAQUE OF NAPOLEON (1769-1821), his bare head to right, NAPOLEON I EMPEREUR above, signed with ‘wing’ below truncation, in gilt metal frame, 118mm. 4.NAPOLEON AND MARIE LOUISE, uniface medal, c. 1810, soft metal striking, by Bertrand Andrieu conjoined busts to left, he laureate, she with diadem, without legend, 142mm. Literature: L. Bramsen, Médaillier Napoléon Le Grand…, Paris/Copenhagen, 1904-1913, no. 1001 (for last item) 5. RAFFAELLE MONTI (1818-1881) : General François Certain de Canrobert (1809-1895), French Marshal, supporter of the Second Republic, uniface portrait medal, made by the electrotype process, hi