(ca. 1790s) Artist's Practice Cliche by (Fleury?) Montagny. Tin, Paper Backed.
72.7 mm x 54.0 mm, but irregular. Holed near the center top. A fairly typical splasher or cliche from this era in terms of production method, but very unusual in terms of content. A typical cliche or splasher was created while a die was unhardened as a positive (i.e., no longer incuse and retrograde) proof of concept. This piece was not created by a die, but a plate engraved with intaglio copies of several medals of the era. A copy of the central device of the Libertas Americana, a bit amateurish but still fairly well rendered. A young portrait of Napoleon at left looks familiar, and the somewhat crude bust of Franklin at upper left seems to have been copied from the 1790 enface Franklin medal cataloged as Greenslet GM-24. The robust signature of MONTAGNY F at bottom has a large capital M (typical of youth?) and two amateurish touches: the Ns are backwards and the A was omitted and added above later. The crudity and the collection of pieces of then-famous medals suggests that this is a training piece for a young engraver. Fleury Montagny was 30 in 1790, making him a potential but unlikely candidate. His son, who later became a well known painter, was born in 1782. Could he have been attempting to follow in his father's footsteps as a teenager? Montagny worked as an engraver with Dupre at the Manufacture d'armes de Versailles after 1793. His skill level was already that of a top professional at that point, seemingly leaving him as an unlikely candidate for authorship of this piece, but giving his son access to the circle of Dupre at an age when this kind of creation makes most sense. Any piece that suggests the presence and centrality of Dupre's Libertas Americana design among his French artisan contemporaries is unusual and collectible. This piece is whimsical and attractive. Its subject matter is rich with American relevance and suggests a connection to the shop of Augustin Dupre. It is also utterly unique.
From the Cardinal Collection Educational Foundation. Acquired on the bourse at the 2011 ANA Convention.

Estimate: $1000