Pierre-Jean David d’Angers (French, 1788 – 1856), a bronze portrait medallion of Napoleon Bonaparte

Pierre-Jean David d'Angers (French, 1788 1856), a bronze portrait medallion of Napoleon Bonaparte, after a model from circa 1838, the relief cast figure portrayed with windswept hair and gazing to sinister and with an ornate collar, inscribed LE GENERAL BONAPARTE and DAVID to the maquette, the roundel 14.5cm diameter; a French gilt bronze portrait roundel of an infant, circa 1890, inscribed MAURICE SALON DE 87 , and Duquesnois 1887 to the maquette ; a bronze portrait relief of a lady, probably French, circa 1900, portrayed in profile and loosely modelled overall, indistinctly inscribed to lower right corner, 16.5x14.5cm; three various French bronze plaquettes, 19th and early 20th century, including a medal by Marie Alexandre Lucien Coudray depicting Orpheus, circa 1900 cast of a model designed in 1893, the largest 5.5x7cm; and a Continental carved softwood Corpus Christi, mounted on fabric backing

CATALOGUE NOTES:

The portrait roundel may have been part of David d'Anger's campaign to create portrait roundels of important figures, on which he embarked in 1820. The figure of Napoleon Bonaparte bears strong similarities to the iconic 1801 painting by Antoine-Jean Gros, currently at the Hermitage in Moscow. A similar example is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 08.70.1

The medal with Orpheus is said to depict the moment where the mythological character puts Cerberus, the guard dog of the underworld, to sleep with the music of his lyre. Coudray was awarded the Prix-de-Rome for this design in 1893, and the medal was offered for sale at the 1900 International Exhibition. A very similar medal is in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum, A.21-1914