418, Lot: 564. Estimate $100. Sold for $90. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

FRANCE, Troisième République. 1870-1940. Æ Medal (42x63mm, 49.67 g, 12h). Award of the Comité Français des expositions l’etranger. By Louis Alexander Bottee. Dated 1899. Presented to Maurey Deschamps. Industry seated left, gesturing towards factories in the background to left; to lower right, beehive and cornucopia / COMITÉ/ FRANÇAIS/ DES/ EXPOSITIONS/ A/ L’ÉTRANGER; to left, olive tree, hammer and anvil; below, two serpents fighting, entwined around staff; in exergue, engraved MAUREY DESCHAMPS. EF.

Collector’s note: “Bottee is one of the best medalists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was one of the first and most successful beneficiaries of the revolution and re-popularization of the art medal in France begun by Chaplain and Roty and was popular and much sought after for commissions throughout his career. No collection of French medallic art is complete without an example of his work.

This presentation and award medal displays many of the characteristics of that revolution in design - freeing of fabric from the traditional round, the use of the entire surface as a canvas for composition, the reduction or elimination of the rim as a compositional element, the use of various levels of relief to create depth.”