Nomos 5

France. François I. 1515-1547. Medal (Bronze, 35mm, 25.80 g 6), an early cast, possibly by G. M. Pomedelli (1478-1537) but probably better attributed to an unknown 16th century French medalist, Paris, after c. 1535. FRANCISCVS.I.FRANCORVM.REX Facing bust of François I, turned slightly to the right, wearing soft cap and brocaded robes. Rev. CHRISTIANAE.REIP.PROPVGNATORI Unicorn standing left, before a mountainous landscape, dipping his horn into a stream pouring down from the mountains. Kress 537 (here by an unattributed artist) = NG 615. Extremely rare. A very attractive early cast with a fine brown patina. Pierced with a small hole above the king’s head and with rounded edges, otherwise, good very fine.

Ex Nomos 5, 25 October 2011, 14.

This medal was previously ascribed to Pomedelli, but his medals seem stylistically different and they were all originally cast, rather than struck; while this piece is known from a struck original. Pomedelli did produce a medal that has a similar reverse, a view of Mount Olympus (Kress 181, of Federigo II Gonzaga and dating between 1523-1530), but it is actually quite different in feel. The reverse scene refers to the belief that the unicorn could purify water by dipping its horn into it, and alludes to the ‘unicorn horn’ given to François by Clement VII. The portrait on the obverse seems certainly to have been taken from the paining by Jean Clouet of c. 1535, now in the Louvre.