Lot 200: [ ITALIAN MEDALS ]

ALESSANDRO CESATI, called IL GRECHETTO (c. 1500-after 1564) King Priam of Troy, bronze-gilt medal, ??????S ??S????S, bearded, draped and diademed bust of Priam right, rev., ????? (Troy), the walled city of Troy, one of the upper central buildings inscribed ????? (Ilium); the harbour and four galleys in the foreground, 39mm (Toderi/Vannel 2103, this piece; Attwood 941; Pollard 420 = Kress 369; Johnson/Martini 1898-1901), graffiti in the obverse field, a very fine contemporary piece and seemingly a struck example

Provenance: Astarte VIII, 11 October 2001, lot 92 (as struck); The Estate of John R. Gaines, Morton & Eden, 21 April 2005, lot 23. Priam was the legendary King of Troy, the father of Hector and Paris. Cesati made this and a companion medal of Queen Dido of Carthage while working at the Papal mint. A medal of Paul III, c. 1549, depicting a bird's eye view of the city of Rome as its reverse (Attwood p. 380, 71) shows strong affinities to this view of Troy and the view of Carthage on the following lot. The present medal appears to have been struck and as such is a rarity, since most known specimens are cast.