Benjamin Franklin, a circular terracotta portrait relief from the workshop of Giovanni Battista Nini (1717-186), 117mm., bust left, wearing fur trimmed hat, signed incuse on the truncation NINI F 1777 and dated below in relief 1777 (Forrer IV, 268-276; Storelli LXI), very fine, drilled at top for suspension

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Details

Benjamin Franklin, a circular terracotta portrait relief from the workshop of Giovanni Battista Nini (1717-186), 117mm., bust left, wearing fur trimmed hat, signed incuse on the truncation NINI F 1777 and dated below in relief 1777 (Forrer IV, 268-276; Storelli LXI), very fine, drilled at top for suspension

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

For brief details of Nini's portraits of Franklin see An Important Collection of Renaissance and Baroque Medals and Plaquettes, Spink, 21 May 1996, lot 421. For an account of the preservation of part of a cargo of these palquettes in the custom's house at Nantes see the note by Henry Jouin in Spink Numismatic Circular, February 1899, p.3203.