413, Lot: 691. Estimate $100. Sold for $900. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ITALY, Firenze. Michelangelo Buonarroti. Artist, 1475-1564. Gilt Æ Medal (35mm, 21.10 g, 12h). Commemorating the artist’s 88th birthday. 19th century cast after an original by Leone Leoni, cast 1561. • MICHAELANGELVS • BONARROTVS • FLO · R · AES · ANN 88, draped bust right / DOCEBO · INIQVOS · VT (TE) · IMP II · AD · TECONVEP, Michelangelo in the guise of a blind man, holding water flask and staff, being led right by guide dog (“Faith”). Cf. Pollard 500 (for original); cf. Kress 429 (same). VF, light marks.

In the winter of 1560, Michelangelo had passed to Leoni a commission for the construction of a funerary monument for Gian Giacomo Medici. As a token of his thanks, Leoni made the original that this piece copies, for which the Florentine artist personally sat.