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Nomos 23

30 November 2021
Zunfthaus zur Saffran, Zurich

overview

Wonderfully pedigreed

Estimate: 12500 CHF
Hammer Price:  22000 CHF
Lot 341

THE DUTCH REPUBLIC. Uncertain city, possibly Amsterdam. Undated but c. 1654. Medal (Silver, 63 mm, 36.63 g, 12 h), a hand engraved medal satirising the English relations with the Ottoman Turks. OLIVARIVS CROMWELLVS MAHOMETI CONSOBRINE (= Oliver Cromwell, cousin of Mahomet Equestrian figure of Oliver Cromwell, bareheaded and in full armor, riding to left, holding a scepter in his right hand and the reins in his left; behind, view of a city. Rev. In the foreground, on the left, Turkish Sultan wearing a turban and robes, holding a book with his right hand, treading on a cross with his left foot, and gesturing, with his left hand, towards a bareheaded and bearded man wearing a cassock who is gesturing towards the Sultan with his upraised right hand and holding a scroll with his left; above the Sultan's head, a winged demon pumping a hand bellows into the Sultan's head with the words, on a banner: Ecce jam planam Mala Machinantem (= Behold, now evil is planned on the plain); from the mouth of the bareheaded man, on a banner, Duce me iubente (= by my guide's command); in background: on the left, military tents; on the right, an array of Turkish soldiers. Murdoch 991 (this piece). Of the greatest rarity, perhaps unique. Lightly toned, very finely engraved and historically exciting. Extremely fine.

Ex Künker 289, 14 March 2017, 1605 and from the collection of J. G. Murdoch, Part 7, Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge 2 June 1904, 991.

It is suggested here that this exceptional medal was produced in Holland, rather than in England as might be supposed, on the assumption that it was engraved specifically for a partisan of Charles II, then in exile. The occasion for its production has to be connected with Cromwell's public message to the Sultan when, at the end of the First Anglo-Dutch War, Admiral Blake led a British flotilla to the Mediterranean in 1654/5. It is easy to imagine the partisans of Charles II reacting with both horror and joy at the idea that Cromwell would ally himself with The Grand Turk, the scourge of Christian Europe. One can easily visualize the way this medal would have been shown around British royalist circles, evoking happy chuckles of derision.

Online bidding closes: 30 Nov 2021, 08:00:00 CET Current Date & Time: 28 Mar 2024, 20:24:02 CET Remaining Time: Closed Hammer Price:22000 CHF

Pre-Bidding closes on 30 November 2021 at 8:00 CET. Live bidding starts at 14:00 CET and is EXCLUSIVELY available on biddr. Separate registration is required.

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