Lot Essay
Cf. Robin Reilly and George Savage, Wedgwood The Portrait Medallions (1973), p. 143, for a blue and white jasper example. The original medal, of which there is an example in the British Museum, was created by Jean Dassier in 1744.
Sir Andrew Fountaine (1676 - 1753), was a gentleman architect, connoisseur of the arts and an antiquarian. He travelled in Italy and was knighted by William III in 1699. He was appointed Vice-chamberlain to Queen Caroline and in 1727 as Master of the Royal Mint, where he succeeded Sir Isaac Newton. He was also a pioneering collector of ceramics, most especially of maiolica. The ceramic collection was sold by one of his heirs, the fifth Andrew Fountaine, himself a collector, on 16 June 1884 at Christie's; it should be noted that he had prepared an inventory of his ancestor's collection, marking each item which was an addition to the collection with an AF monogram.
This medallion may have been gifted to the fifth Andrew Fountaine (1808-1873) sometime in the second half of the 19th Century, the Alexander Nesbitt referred to in the inscription possibly being the scholar (1817-1886) who was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and whose interests were particularly centred on antique Venetian glass. In 1878 he advised the Victoria and Albert Museum on purchases and also wrote the introduction to A Descriptive Catalogue of the Glass Vessels in the South Kensington Museum. Nesbitt's collection of antiquities was sold at Christie's on the 19th May 1887.
Sir Andrew Fountaine (1676 - 1753), was a gentleman architect, connoisseur of the arts and an antiquarian. He travelled in Italy and was knighted by William III in 1699. He was appointed Vice-chamberlain to Queen Caroline and in 1727 as Master of the Royal Mint, where he succeeded Sir Isaac Newton. He was also a pioneering collector of ceramics, most especially of maiolica. The ceramic collection was sold by one of his heirs, the fifth Andrew Fountaine, himself a collector, on 16 June 1884 at Christie's; it should be noted that he had prepared an inventory of his ancestor's collection, marking each item which was an addition to the collection with an AF monogram.
This medallion may have been gifted to the fifth Andrew Fountaine (1808-1873) sometime in the second half of the 19th Century, the Alexander Nesbitt referred to in the inscription possibly being the scholar (1817-1886) who was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and whose interests were particularly centred on antique Venetian glass. In 1878 he advised the Victoria and Albert Museum on purchases and also wrote the introduction to A Descriptive Catalogue of the Glass Vessels in the South Kensington Museum. Nesbitt's collection of antiquities was sold at Christie's on the 19th May 1887.