(Ca. 1766) Benjamin Franklin portrait medallion by Isaac Gosset. Honey colored wax. In a contemporary oval turned dark wood glazed frame with hanger mount and ring. Portrait 74 mm tall, 150 x 180 mm overall. Sellers 4, Plate 9 (this piece). Pike (Biographical Dictionary of Wax Modellers, 1973), p. 56.

Portrait of bewigged Franklin to left, queue and queue ribbon missing from the wig, as executed. Wax centered on a reflective black ground. On loan for many years to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, with a provenance label on the back inventorying this as Bate Loan 174. Superb preservation, with crisp details and no muddiness among the curls or other fine intricacies. Choice in appearance and essentially perfect. An early and important portrait of Franklin, once attributed to Patience Wright but now firmly identified as the work of Isaac Gosset. This bust was copied by both Tassie and Wedgwood. Sellers lists this particular example on p. 295 as No. 4. on his census of known examples of this wax, pointing out that it had once been on display at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

From the Richard Margolis Collection. Earlier from the Mary Bate Collection; Christie's (South Kensington) sale of the Mary Bate Collection of Wax Portrait Reliefs, June 28, 2005, lot 270 (at $3470).

Estimate: $3000