Italian unattributed (c. 1530), Clement VII (Pope, 1523-34), uniface bronze medal, CLEMENS VII PONTIFEX MAX, bearded bust to right wearing cope fastened with morse, 67mm (Armand II, 166, 4 = Kress 380 = Pollard 436; Morgenroth 142 = Lanna (1911 sale) 315), pierced, a very fine contemporary cast with guide lines visible for the lettering on the obverse as well as on the blank reverse which also shows a central compass point, brown patina, extremely rare, apparently only the Kress and Morgenroth examples recorded Provenance: John R. Gaines collection.The authorship of this medal is unknown. It has been suggested from its style that it was the work of a sculptor (Sangallo has been proposed and rejected, other artists suggested are Francesco dal Prato and Alfonso Lombardi). The illegitimate son of the murdered Giuliano de’ Medici and putative father of Alessandro de’ Medici, Clement ascended the papal throne in 1523. Although his pontificate suffered the nightmarish Sack of Rome and Henry VIII’s break from the Catholic Church, he was a sophisticated intellectual and discriminating patron of the arts who left a significant cultural legacy. On the medal he is shown with the beard he grew as a sign of penance after the Sack of Rome in 1527 by the mutinous soldiers of Charles V. With guide lines showing on the otherwise blank reverse, it is likely that this, along with the Kress and Morgenroth examples, are trial casts of an unfinished commission.

Estimate: GBP 3000 - 4000