Lot 319: [ MEDALS ]

PIETER VAN ABEELE (1608-1684) Henry, Duke of Gloucester (1640-1660) and his sister Princess Mary, silver medal, c. 1660, HINDRYHKVS HARTOG VAN GLOCESTER (Henry, Duke of Gloucester), bust of Henry facing three-quarters left, with long hair, wearing lace collar; field behind patterned with roses and thistles, rev., MARIA D G PRINCEPS M BRIT AVRANT DOTARIA ETC (Mary, by the grace of God, Princess of Great Britain, Dowager of Orange etc.), bust of Mary left, her hair elegantly wreathed with diamonds and pearls, wearing drop-earring, pearl necklace and drapery fastened with brooch on the shoulder; field behind similarly patterned; to right, traces of the artist's signature P V ABEELE F, 58.53g, 66mm (MI Appendix 1, CLXXXII, 10; Frederiks 2/2d and 17/17a), minor rim bruise on reverse, an extremely fine contemporary cast made from two plates joined at the rim, excessively rare

Provenance: Rt. Hon. The Earl of Caladon collection, Christie's, 4 April 1967, lot 142 (the catalogue records a family conn ction with Sir Henry Blount, who had charge of the older Royal Princes at the Battle of Edgehill in 1642); Christie's, 17 February 1987, lot 192; Morton & Eden, 21 May 2003, lot 1192; The Estate of John R. Gaines, Morton & Eden, 21 April 2005, lot 41. Henry, Duke of Gloucester was born on 8 July 1640, the eighth child and youngest son of Charles I and Henrietta Maria. It is considered likely that a distinctive reverse was originally planned for Henry's portrait medal, but in the event he and his sister Mary, the Princess Royal (widow of William II of Orange and the mother of William III), died at Whitehall Palace in 1660; this 'muled' medal may therefore have served as a memorial to them both. Henry fought with his brother James at the Siege of Dunkirk, was created Earl of Cambridge in 1659 and accompanied Charles II on his return to England at the Restoration. He died from smallpox on 12 September 1660 and was buried in Westminster Abbey in the same vault as Mary, Queen of Scots.