Lot 249: [ GERMAN MEDALS ]

HANS REINHART THE ELDER (c. 1510-1581) Johann Friedrich I (1503-1554), Elector of Saxony, 1532-47, silver-gilt medal, 1535, IOANNS FRIDERICVS ELECTOR DVX SAXONIE FIERI FECIT ETATIS SVAE 32 (Johann Friedrich caused [this] to be made in the thirty-second year of his age), half-length bust facing three-quarters right, wearing a pleated shirt with high collar beneath a fur cloak, a chain around the neck and holding a sword which twice pierces the inscription, and an electoral hat with decorated band and ostrich plume; inscribed on the collar: XRENXALSXINXEREN (part of a German motto 'Alles in Ehren Kann niemand wehren' - There is no defence against an honourable man); signed by the sword pommel with HR monogram, rev., SPES MEA IN DEO EST ANNO NOSTRI SALVATORIS MDXXXV (My hope is in God, the year of our Saviour 1535), Johann's full heraldic achievement on an elaborate shield ornamented with scrolls, oak-leaf tendrils and grotesque birds' heads, 63.57g, 65.8mm (Habich 1935; Domanig 154; Pollard 741 = Kress 605; rusted 139; Scher 126), with traces of having been mounted at the top edge, a very fine contemporary cast

Provenance: Emiliano Gallo Ruiz collection, Sotheby's, London, 5-6 October 1989, lot 259; The Estate of John R. Gaines, Morton & Eden, 21 April 2005, lot 36. The bust of the elector is taken from paintings and prints by Lucas Cranach the Elder. For the artist's original wooden model, see Habich pl. 204, 3a. Another version of the medal exists with the Elector aged 41 and dated 1544, retaining the same portrait.