A SET OF SIXTY BRONZE MEDALS OF GRAND DUKES, TSARS, EMPERORS AND EMPRESSES, RUSSIA, LAST QUARTER 18TH CENTURY AND LATER

PROVENANCE
A comparable set of medals was sold at Christie`s, London, November 29, 2010, lot 437 and Christie`s, New York, May 17, 2012, lot 35.

LITERATURE
M.E. Diakov, Medals of the Russian Empire, Russia, 2008, vol. 8, pp. 12-45.
V. P. Smirnov, Opisanie Russkikh Medalei, Otdel Pervyi, Medali XVIII Stoletiya, St Petersburg, 1908, pp. 1-22.
L. Gavrilova, Russian Historical Thought and Medal Art in the Era of Catherine II, St. Petersburg, 2000, pp. 43-48.

LOT NOTES
The beginning of the series was based on the efforts of M. Lomonosov and J. Schtelin in 1750s. The decision to carve dies of medals of portraits of Russian rulers from Ryurik to Peter I from the collection of Academy of Science was sanctioned by the Royal Court. The inscriptions on the medals were taken from Mikhail Lomonosov`s Short Russian Chronicle, and the portraits were based on a series of 32 carvings in green jasper by Johann Dorsch from the 1740s. The series was struck at the beginning of 1770s and became widely known both in Russia and abroad. It also served as a study aid in Russian gymnasiums. Presented portrait series set contains original 50 portraits and 10 of 15 medals which were added later until Alexander III. The set comprising numbers one through sixty, each depicting a relief portrait of a Grand Duke, Tsar, Emperor or Empress of Russia, from Riurik to Pavel I, the reverse numbered and inscribed with brief history of the represented monarch. The set also has two different medals numbered #12, which was obviously done by mistake and documented in various catalogues. Each medal 3.8 cm. (1½ in.) in diameter.