SIX WEDGWOOD BLACK BASALT CIRCULAR PAPAL MEDALLIONS AND AN OVAL PORTRAIT MEDALLION OF LEONARDO DA VINCI (1452-1519)

SIX WEDGWOOD BLACK BASALT CIRCULAR PAPAL MEDALLIONS AND AN OVAL PORTRAIT MEDALLION OF LEONARDO DA VINCI (1452-1519) the first, circa 1790, one impressed Wedgwood marks and numbered 25, 136, 173, 139, 140, 145, respectively, cast from medals believed to be by Jean Dassier, each molded with profile, to dexter, identified at the periphery, dia: 1 1/2 in.; the portrait of Leonardo Da Vinci, circa 1778, impressed Wedgwood, molded in profile, to sinister, the bearded artist in cap and gown, h: 2 1/4 in. (7)

Provenance: Wedgwood Society of New York, 2009 (the papal medallions).
Jeffrey Milkins Collection, nos. 496 and 687.

Catalogue Note:
For a listing of the 'Heads of the Popes' from the 1779 Wedgwood & Bentley Catalogue see Wolf Mankowitz, 'Wedgwood', p. 244-248. For similar examples and the corresponding wax models, see The Victoria & Albert Museum. For a similar Da Vinci medallion from the Tillie S. Speyer Collection see, The Carnegie Museum of Art, accession no. 82.93.146.