Author Topic: "Poilu and Death / Marianne"  (Read 2298 times)

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  • Walther Eberbach  1919 

    "Poilu and Death / Marianne".  Cast bronze, dark brown patina, 69.74 mm; 97.63 g.  Edge-punch: notch E(?)  X III.  Gussfrisch (as-cast).  Rare!

    Obverse: Poilu in 1914-style uniform, champagne flute in right hand, walking to left, arm-in-arm with Death disguised as half-naked Marianne wearing a cockaded Liberty bonnet, her left hand lifting tattered dress to reveal skeletal legs and feet; her right skeletal hand poisoning companion's drink behind his back; artist's signature and date WALTHER / EBERBACH / 1916・ inscribed lower left; monogram interlaced EW lower center; lined decorative border; broad raised rim.   

    Reverse: From smoldering landscape of thorny vines rises a single spiraling shoot bearing radiant long spines; dates 1914 -  19 separated by plant stem; monogram interlaced EW at lower right.
     
    Cf: Lipp, Peter.  2018.  Heilbronn geprägt und gegossen: Stadtgeschichte auf Münzen und Medaillen vom Mittelalter bis heute, p. 194: no. 461.

    For an example in the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin Münzkabinett, see Münzkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin Acc. 1920/415, Objekt-Nr: 18235027: http://ikmk.smb.museum/object?id=18235027.  For a second example, obverse only, single-sided, see Objekt-Nr: 18235028: http://ikmk.smb.museum/object?id=18235028

    It is uncertain if the bronze single-sided example in the Berlin Münzkabinett was cast in 1916 or is a single-sided issue or trial-cast from 1919.  Many of the artist's wartime medals were produced in iron, but there are at least a few bronze examples of some of those designs.  These may be re-casts made by Eberbach after wartime restrictions on the use of bronze had been lifted.
     
    Design of obverse dated 1916 predates that on reverse (1919).  Eberbach used the same reverse design and date on another medal with an obverse dated earlier (1917): ENGLAND KNEBELT . . .  in this collection, also illustrated in Lipp (p. 194: no. 462) and in the Berlin Münzkabinett collection: http://ikmk.smb.museum/object?id=18235026.  Whether either of these medals had originally been produced in 1916 or 1917 is uncertain: thus far no examples are known.  Two of his original wartime iron "Totentanz" designs, dated 1916, reissued in bronze with the identical 1919 reverse design are in the Landesmuseum Württemberg Münzkabinett:  https://bawue.museum-digital.de/index.php?t=objekt&oges=18546&cachesLoaded=true and https://bawue.museum-digital.de/index.php?t=objekt&oges=18541&cachesLoaded=true.

"Poilu and Death / Marianne"
« on: December 16, 2019, 05:12:13 PM »

Walther Eberbach  1919 

"Poilu and Death / Marianne".  Cast bronze, dark brown patina, 69.74 mm; 97.63 g.  Edge-punch: notch E(?)  X III.  Gussfrisch (as-cast).  Rare!

Obverse: Poilu in 1914-style uniform, champagne flute in right hand, walking to left, arm-in-arm with Death disguised as half-naked Marianne wearing a cockaded Liberty bonnet, her left hand lifting tattered dress to reveal skeletal legs and feet; her right skeletal hand poisoning companion's drink behind his back; artist's signature and date WALTHER / EBERBACH / 1916・ inscribed lower left; monogram interlaced EW lower center; lined decorative border; broad raised rim.   

Reverse: From smoldering landscape of thorny vines rises a single spiraling shoot bearing radiant long spines; dates 1914 -  19 separated by plant stem; monogram interlaced EW at lower right.
 
Cf: Lipp, Peter.  2018.  Heilbronn geprägt und gegossen: Stadtgeschichte auf Münzen und Medaillen vom Mittelalter bis heute, p. 194: no. 461.

For an example in the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin Münzkabinett, see Münzkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin Acc. 1920/415, Objekt-Nr: 18235027: http://ikmk.smb.museum/object?id=18235027.  For a second example, obverse only, single-sided, see Objekt-Nr: 18235028: http://ikmk.smb.museum/object?id=18235028

It is uncertain if the bronze single-sided example in the Berlin Münzkabinett was cast in 1916 or is a single-sided issue or trial-cast from 1919.  Many of the artist's wartime medals were produced in iron, but there are at least a few bronze examples of some of those designs.  These may be re-casts made by Eberbach after wartime restrictions on the use of bronze had been lifted.
 
Design of obverse dated 1916 predates that on reverse (1919).  Eberbach used the same reverse design and date on another medal with an obverse dated earlier (1917): ENGLAND KNEBELT . . .  in this collection, also illustrated in Lipp (p. 194: no. 462) and in the Berlin Münzkabinett collection: http://ikmk.smb.museum/object?id=18235026.  Whether either of these medals had originally been produced in 1916 or 1917 is uncertain: thus far no examples are known.  Two of his original wartime iron "Totentanz" designs, dated 1916, reissued in bronze with the identical 1919 reverse design are in the Landesmuseum Württemberg Münzkabinett:  https://bawue.museum-digital.de/index.php?t=objekt&oges=18546&cachesLoaded=true and https://bawue.museum-digital.de/index.php?t=objekt&oges=18541&cachesLoaded=true.

« Last Edit: December 16, 2019, 09:30:58 PM by Haarmann »