LEBEN UND TOD
(Life and Death)
Ludwig Gies 1911, Cast, two-sided, bronze medal, 63.4mm, 68.20g, Edge-Punch: „C.POELLATH SCHROBENHAUSEN“,
Ernsting WVZ 5. Henry Scott Goodman Collection.
Obverse/Reverse exhibit the same field with a multi-profiled, stepped border: each depicted above an exposed ground line
with pearl ends; the image motifs are sculpturally raised in form.
Obverse: In profile to the left, a Centauride leaping over a thorn bush with a crown and a diaphanous drapery of flowing robes, in her raised right hand a bowl with a fountain and water running over the edge.
Reverse: In profile to the left on an emaciated lion crouches death as a skeleton, on his head a similar crown as the Centauride of the obverse, over his right shoulder a scythe, holding an hourglass with both hands. Below the bottom line raised LUDW• - GIES• inscribed.
Transferred from Poellath at the end of 1911. Probably the first work within the framework of the early pieces created by Gies with allegorical and mythological themes.
Rarity: R7 Extremely Rare (4-12)
One (1) known in private collection
London, British Museum, Department of Coins and Medals;
Munich, Staatliche Münzsammlung (National Coin Collection);
Paris, Musée d’Historie Contemporaine (Museum of Contemporary History);
Ramat Aviv, Kadman Numismatic Museum;
Schrobenhausen, Heimatmuseum;
Vienna, Kunsthistoriches Museum (Art History Museum)
