St. James's Auctions
Auction 94 - 96 30 Sep - 2 Oct 2024
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Edmund Withipoll (1510/13 ‑ 1582), uniface cast bronze portrait medal, c.1560, by Steven Cornelisz van Herwijck (c.1530‑1565/67), bearded bust three‑quarters left wearing doublet fastened at the top, small ruff collar and soft bonnet‑type hat, EDMVND WITHIPOLL ÆT 48, signed on truncation, STE H F, beaded border, 43mm. (MI 108/34), superbly cast on a thin flan (the reverse a concave image of the obverse), extremely fine and excessively rare
The British Museum hold a silver example, the gift of Edward Hawkins, and published in Medallic Illustrations, London 1885, as "Unique?". To the best of the cataloguer's knowledge no other example, be it either silver or bronze, has been recorded since;
The date of Edmund Withipoll or Withypoll's birth is unknown, though Hawkins, in Medallic Illustrations, gives it as 15 March, 1512, a date which does not fit with him placing the medal of the 48 year‑old Withipoll under 1562. Other sources give between 1510 and 1513. He is recorded as being a money‑lender, landowner, sheriff and politician. His father, Paul, was a Merchant Taylor, of which he was Master in 1529‑30 and Merchant Adventurer He was also the Member of Parliament for the City of London in 1529–35 and again in
Edmund married Elizabeth, youngest daughter of Thomas Hynde, a merchant also well‑connected in the City of London, in it is thought, 1535 and went on to have eleven sons and seven daughters. In 1544 he purchased, with his father, the Manor of Wathamstow and in 1545 they also purchased the manor of Christchurch at Ipswich, which included both the site and possessions of the dissolved Priory of the Holy Trinity at Ipswich and where he built the original Christchurch Mansion (originally Withipoll Howse), now the town's Museum and Art Gallery. Records show he was not always an easy neighbour. In 1558 he was elected (joint) Member of Parliament for Ipswich. How he came to be portrayed twice by Steven van Herwijck (the British Museum hold a second medal of Withipoll, this a profile portrait) is not known. It is possible that he met the medallist through his banking interests and he could have known Thomas Stanley, the Assay Master at the Tower Mint, also the subject of a van Herwijck medal of around the same date.
Estimate: 2000 - 4000 GBP
The British Museum hold a silver example, the gift of Edward Hawkins, and published in Medallic Illustrations, London 1885, as "Unique?". To the best of the cataloguer's knowledge no other example, be it either silver or bronze, has been recorded since;
The date of Edmund Withipoll or Withypoll's birth is unknown, though Hawkins, in Medallic Illustrations, gives it as 15 March, 1512, a date which does not fit with him placing the medal of the 48 year‑old Withipoll under 1562. Other sources give between 1510 and 1513. He is recorded as being a money‑lender, landowner, sheriff and politician. His father, Paul, was a Merchant Taylor, of which he was Master in 1529‑30 and Merchant Adventurer He was also the Member of Parliament for the City of London in 1529–35 and again in
Edmund married Elizabeth, youngest daughter of Thomas Hynde, a merchant also well‑connected in the City of London, in it is thought, 1535 and went on to have eleven sons and seven daughters. In 1544 he purchased, with his father, the Manor of Wathamstow and in 1545 they also purchased the manor of Christchurch at Ipswich, which included both the site and possessions of the dissolved Priory of the Holy Trinity at Ipswich and where he built the original Christchurch Mansion (originally Withipoll Howse), now the town's Museum and Art Gallery. Records show he was not always an easy neighbour. In 1558 he was elected (joint) Member of Parliament for Ipswich. How he came to be portrayed twice by Steven van Herwijck (the British Museum hold a second medal of Withipoll, this a profile portrait) is not known. It is possible that he met the medallist through his banking interests and he could have known Thomas Stanley, the Assay Master at the Tower Mint, also the subject of a van Herwijck medal of around the same date.
Estimate: 2000 - 4000 GBP