Sale: Nomos 5, Lot: 88. Estimate CHF15000.  Closing Date: Monday, 24 October 2011.  Sold For CHF14000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Italy, Venice. Francesco Morosini, 108th Doge of Venice. 1688-1694. Medal (Silver, 51mm, 31.74 g 12), struck to commemorate the accession of the Doge, by the unknown engraver G.B., 1688. FRAN.MAVROCEN DVX.VENET Richly draped and cuirassed bust of Morosini to left, wearing Doge’s cornu; on arm truncation, signature G.B.F. Rev. HAEC SIGNA CERTA LABORVM 1688 The lion of St. Mark sitting on his hind legs to right, nimbate, crowned and wearing Doge’s cornu, holding scepter in his upraised left paw and resting his right on a crown set on the ground below him; behind, view of the sea and a fortress. Voltolina 1067 = Ars Antiqua, 8 November 2002, 122. Extremely rare. Atrractively toned and impressive. Extremely fine.

Francesco Morosini (1619-1694) came from an old Venetian family - perhaps originally Hungarian - which had already become of some importance as early as the 10th century and included three other doges. Francesco was one of Venice’s most successful admirals and spent most of his life fighting against Turkish advances in the Aegean. After the defeat of the Turkish attack on Vienna in 1683 Venice joined the alliance against the Turks, with its fleet under the command of Morosini and the armies under Otto Wilhelm von Königsmark, a German general who was in Swedish service. The war initially went very well for Venice but, after the conquest of much of southern Greece, it ultimately bogged down and fell into a stalemate after Morosini became Doge in 1688. Morosini is, sadly, perhaps most famous for his role in the siege of Athens in 1687, when the Parthenon, then being used as a Turkish powder magazine, was blown up by Venetian artillery.