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CIRCA 1780, IMPRESSED UPPER AND LOWER CASE MARK, AFTER A MODEL DESIGNED BY VOLTAIRE IN 1777, THE FRAME ORIGINAL TO THE MEDALLION
Details
A GILT-COPPER MOUNTED WEDGWOOD & BENTLEY BLACK BASALTES PORTRAIT MEDALLION OF GEORGE WASHINGTON
Circa 1780, impressed upper and lower case mark, after a model designed by Voltaire in 1777, the frame original to the medallion
The general portrait à l'antique, truncated at the neck, his profile to right, named below the truncation, the oval set within the original gilt-copper frame, the inner rim of chased entrelac, the frame itself with foliate C-scrolls enclosing flowers, headed by a rocaille cartouche.
3 3/8 in. (8.8 cm.) high, including frame
Circa 1780, impressed upper and lower case mark, after a model designed by Voltaire in 1777, the frame original to the medallion
The general portrait à l'antique, truncated at the neck, his profile to right, named below the truncation, the oval set within the original gilt-copper frame, the inner rim of chased entrelac, the frame itself with foliate C-scrolls enclosing flowers, headed by a rocaille cartouche.
3 3/8 in. (8.8 cm.) high, including frame
Provenance
The present portrait head of George Washington is a combination of Josiah Wedgwood's first and second versions of the statesman. Both were based on a medal designed by Voltaire in 1777, an example of which was in Wedgwood's hands at Etruria by July of that year, the one truncated at the neck and named below, the other showing a bit of drapery in the style of the antique. See Robin Reilly and George Savage, Wedgwood, the Portrait Medallions, London, 1973, pp. 331-332 for examples of both and for the later versions, based on the famous portrait by Jean-Antoine Houdon; also p. 296 for a Wedgwood & Bentley portrait medallion of Sir Francis Bacon set within a frame virtually identical to the present example.
According to Reilly and Savage, at the time he received the Voltaire medal, Wedgwood expressed doubts as to the wisdom of producing for sale the head of a man 'at this time more absolute than any Despot in Europe' and asked 'how then can he be celebrated, in such circumstances as the Patron of Liberty!' [Reilly & Savage, p. 332, fig. a].
According to Reilly and Savage, at the time he received the Voltaire medal, Wedgwood expressed doubts as to the wisdom of producing for sale the head of a man 'at this time more absolute than any Despot in Europe' and asked 'how then can he be celebrated, in such circumstances as the Patron of Liberty!' [Reilly & Savage, p. 332, fig. a].
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