Sale: Nomos 1, Lot: 201. Estimate CHF3750.  Closing Date: Tuesday, 5 May 2009.  Sold For CHF2800. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

FRANCE, Royal. Louis XIV. 1643-1715. Medal (Bronze, 70mm, 107.25 g 12), Parcel gilt or Damascened, 1660. LUDOVICUS.XIIII.REX CHRISTIANISSIMUS Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Louis XIV to right; under bust, tiny R (= Roussel) Rev. REGVM COLLOQVIVM / AD PIRENAEOS/M.DC.LX / MOLART The kings of France, on the left, and Spain, on the right, standing facing each other, clasping their right hands; behind them, landscape with bridge crossing the river Bidassoa, which formed the Franco-Spanish frontier in the Pyrenees. Divo 55. J. Jacquiot, Médailles et Jetons de Louis XIV (Paris, 1968), p. 136, II and pl. XXV, 3 var. Very rare. Raised surfaces with contemporary parcel gilding, remaining surfaces with an attractive, deep brown toning. A few minor marks, otherwise, good extremely fine.

A great French specialty of the later 17th and 18th centuries was the careful gilding of the raised surfaces of bronze medals that were then used as presentation pieces, especially during the reign of the ‘Sun King’, Louis XIV. The color contrast between the bright and pale gold on the relief and the deep brown of the toned bronze of the fields is particularly attractive; the same technique was used for the luxury furniture and objets d’art that were so characteristic of this period.