Lot 115: [ ITALIAN MEDALS ]

ATTRIBUTED TO NICCOLÒ SPINELLI, called NICCOLÒ FIORENTINO (1430-1514) John Kendal, Knight of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, bronze medal, 1480, bust right wearing the cross of the Knights of St. John, rev., the arms of Kendal, 55mm (Hill 934; Armand II, 82, 11; Bargello 230; MI I, 17, 3), has been gilt, a fine old cast, worn on the reverse

The importance of this medal is that it is the first to depict an Englishman. In the obverse inscription John Kendal is named as Turcopolier, a position he held between 1477 and 1489 as English commander of the infantry and cavalry raised locally for the defence of Rhodes. The reverse legend records that it was made at the time of the Turkish siege of Rhodes in 1480.