拍品 140
140
A VERY RARE 17TH CENTURY GOLD AND ENAMEL BADGE OF THE ORDER OF MALTA
A VERY RARE 17TH CENTURY GOLD AND ENAMEL BADGE OF THE ORDER OF MALTA

細節
A VERY RARE 17TH CENTURY GOLD AND ENAMEL BADGE OF THE ORDER OF MALTA
The obverse depicting a white Maltese Cross with blue enamel between arms to an eight lobed polychrome enamel surround, the reverse with central concave roundel showing St. John the Baptist in rural landscape to the polychrome enamel border, gold suspension loop, circa 1650, South German, 3.9 cm. diameter

拍品專文

The Sovereign Military Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Rhodes and Malta was founded in 1099 and Chapters were established throughout Europe. This historical Badge evidently belonged to a Master of the Order in the mid 17th Century. They were individually commissioned and so the few surviving examples are all slightly different

Cf. S. Patterson, Royal Insignia, Merrell, 1996, p. 30-32 for a similar early 17th century example