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Auction: 8004 - An Important Collection of Renaissance Medals & Plaquettes
Lot: 35

Moderno (late 15th century) Combat between Horsemen, circular bronze plaquette, 53.5mm., an extremely fine contemporary cast, light brown patina, pierced at 12 o´clock, two areas of solder and number 20 lightly scratched on the reverse An armoured horseman, holding a hexagonal shield under his chin, gallops to the right, a riderless horse galloping alongside him, jumping over two fallen warriors and a third horse, above, the legend DVBIA FORTU-NA This horseman has already been encountered in the plaquette of a Battle before a City by Riccio (see lot 15). This small version is attributed to Moderno on stylistic grounds, and also, according to Molinier, because the last two letters of the legend have been deliberately separated and turned into the monogram of the artist. The design is reproduced on the reverse of the medal of Francesco Sforza, Marchese di Caravaggio by Pietro Paolo Galeotti (Armand I, p. 234, no. 36), and the legend occurs on a medal of Diva Julia by Antico (Hill, Corpus, 214). References Bange 1922, 514, 515; Cott p. 153; Florence, Bargelo, 122; Florence Carrand 436; Kress 186; Maclagan p. 39; Molinier 215; Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, 87; Paris, Louvre, 320; Ricci, ii, p. 162, no. 216; Venice, Museo Correr, 31 Estimate £ 600-800

Sold for
£4,200