Stack's Bowers Galleries

August 2024 Global Showcase Auction  –  12 - 23 August 2024

Stack's Bowers Galleries, August 2024 Global Showcase Auction

Ancient and World Coins and Currency

Part A: Mo, 12.08.2024, from 6:00 PM CEST
Part B: Mo, 12.08.2024, from 6:00 PM CEST
Part C: Mo, 12.08.2024, from 10:00 PM CEST
Part 1: Tu, 13.08.2024, from 1:00 AM CEST
Part 2: Tu, 13.08.2024, from 6:00 PM CEST
Part 3: Tu, 13.08.2024, from 10:00 PM CEST
Part D: We, 14.08.2024, from 6:00 PM CEST
Part 4: We, 14.08.2024, from 9:00 PM CEST
Part 5: Th, 15.08.2024, from 5:00 PM CEST
Part E: Fr, 16.08.2024, from 5:00 PM CEST
Part 6: Fr, 16.08.2024, from 9:00 PM CEST
Part 7: Sa, 17.08.2024, from 5:00 PM CEST
Part F: Sa, 17.08.2024, from 6:00 PM CEST
Part 8: Mo, 19.08.2024, from 7:00 PM CEST
Part G: Tu, 20.08.2024, from 6:00 PM CEST
Part 9: Tu, 20.08.2024, from 7:00 PM CEST
Part H: Tu, 20.08.2024, from 8:00 PM CEST
Part 10: We, 21.08.2024, from 6:00 PM CEST
Part I: We, 21.08.2024, from 6:00 PM CEST
Part 11: Th, 22.08.2024, from 6:00 PM CEST
Part J: Th, 22.08.2024, from 6:00 PM CEST
Part K: Fr, 23.08.2024, from 6:00 PM CEST
Part 12: Fr, 23.08.2024, from 6:00 PM CEST
The auction is closed.

Description

SPAIN. Long Cryptogram Bronze Art Medal. UNCIRCULATED.
Weight: 173 gms; dimensions: 95x95mm. By Josep Maria Subirachs. Obverse: Knight mounted on warhorse facing left, the animal's head bowed and front right and back lifted in mid-trot, BARCELONA SAGRADA FAMÍLIA below; Reverse: Complex square, 4x4 grid numerical cryptogram, 1 14 14 4 11 7 6 9 8 10 10 5 13 2 3 15 in four lines. The head of the knight, heavily abstracted by his modernist helmet and armor, faces the viewer frontally, left hand holding the reins, his right hand holding lance at semi-vertical angle. Both are heading downhill, but the knight perhaps does not yet perceive this in the present moment; this may suggest, at once, Barcelona's medieval independence, if also perhaps the Quixotic quest to complete Gaudi's seemingly never-ending modernist cathedral, the Sagrada Família. Together, with the numerical cryptogram on the reverse, the piece may also refer to the complexity and controversy surrounding Subirachs' monumental contributions to the Sagrada Família's western Passion Facade. Beginning with his commission in 1986, he completed four monumental bronze doors and carved 100 stone figures over a 20-year period. Four years into the work, in 1990, a public demonstration was organized, in part, by Subirachs's fellow Catalonian artists, who argued against his sharp, angular "distortions" of Gaudí's more rounded synthesis of neo-Gothic and curvilinear Art Nouveau styles. References: - Marie-France Borot and Ramon Borràs, Subirachs: Medalles (n.d.), 86, #92 - https://web.archive.org/web/20070924221355/http://www.subirachs.org/
To view supplemental information about the Stephen R. Parks Collection, click here.
From the Stephen R. Parks Collection of Medallic Arts.

Estimate: $60.00- $100.00

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Price realized 60 USD
Starting price 36 USD
The auction is closed.
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