Watch List notes:

*Italy, Don Inigo d'Avalos, bronze medal by Antonio di Puccio, called Pisanello, c.1449-50, don inigo de davalos, bust right wearing fur-trimmed cloak over high-collared shirt and broad rolled hood with drapery falling from crown to shoulder, rev., per vvi se fa – opvs pisani pictoris, the Avalos coat of arms over a globe with starry sky above a mountainous landscape with buildings and the sea below, 78mm (Hill 44; Armand I, 2, 1; Pollard 24 = Kress 22; Scher, Currency of Fame 9), twice pierced, the edge with transverse file marks, a very fine contemporary cast with some roughness and pitting but with no signs of chasing aside from some later light graffiti in the obverse field, very fine and very rare with a brown patina. Ex Professor S. Pozzi collection, Feuardent & Sambon, Paris, 28 June 1919, lot 790. Don Inigo d'Avalos accompanied Alfonso of Aragon on the conquest of Naples in 1442 and remained a close compatriot throughout Alfonso's reign (1442-58). In 1449, Pisanello was made court artist to Alfonso and around the same time Don Inigo was appointed master chamberlain to the king. It is to this period, 1449-50, that Don Inigo's medal was created and it is generally accepted to be not only Pisanello's last medal but also one of his finest works, with its subtle low relief and fine symmetry. The precise interpretation of the reverse remains mysterious with suggestions that it could be a representation of the shield of Achilles, referencing Don Inigo's military prowess, or has some form of astrological connection with the starry sky being such a dominant feature on the globe. Professor Pozzi, from a numismatic perspective, is known for his encyclopaedic collection of ancient Greek coins and his sale catalogue of 1921 by Naville of Geneva is still used as a general reference for the series. Pozzi himself was a famous Parisian surgeon and gynaecologist, well-known today in artistic circles for his full-length portrait painted by John Singer Sargent in 1881, currently in the collection of the Armand Hammer Museum, Los Angeles. His life was tragically ended when, in 1918, he was murdered by a deranged former patient.

Estimate: £10,000 - 15000