Medal thumbnail 1
Not currently on display at the V&A

Medal

ca. 1915 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This iron medal was made by Adolf Daumiller in Germany, in about 1915. Both side of this medal forcefully convey the supposedly vicious qualities of the enemy. The image on the obverse, a chariot driven by a Britannia, personified as a slightly wild and dissolute woman, is led by the English lion with six portrait heads, personifications of the Allies Belgium, France, Russia, Japan, Serbia, and Italy, the latter having joined the Allies in 1915, and the scene symbolising their ambition to conquer the world. The inscription, a doggerel conflation of 'Rule Britannia, Britannia rules the waves' with the German anthem "über alles in der Welt" (over all the world) is both awkward and misspelt. The head of Medusa surrounded by dolphins on the reverse is a malevolent symbol for the maritime power of Great Britain.


Object details

Category
Object type
Materials and techniques
Brief description
Medal, Britannia in chariot/Britannia as Medusa. iron Germany ca. 1915, Adolf Daumiller.
Physical description
Obv., a female figure in a chariot driving a lion with six male portrait heads emerging from the body of the lion like a hydra. Rev., the head of Medusa with snakes coiled among her hair surrounded by three dolphins.
Dimensions
  • Diameter: 48mm
Marks and inscriptions
  • "RVLE BRITANIA ALL OVER THE WORD 1914-15." (obv.)
  • "A. D." (rev.)
Subjects depicted
Summary
This iron medal was made by Adolf Daumiller in Germany, in about 1915. Both side of this medal forcefully convey the supposedly vicious qualities of the enemy. The image on the obverse, a chariot driven by a Britannia, personified as a slightly wild and dissolute woman, is led by the English lion with six portrait heads, personifications of the Allies Belgium, France, Russia, Japan, Serbia, and Italy, the latter having joined the Allies in 1915, and the scene symbolising their ambition to conquer the world. The inscription, a doggerel conflation of 'Rule Britannia, Britannia rules the waves' with the German anthem "über alles in der Welt" (over all the world) is both awkward and misspelt. The head of Medusa surrounded by dolphins on the reverse is a malevolent symbol for the maritime power of Great Britain.
Bibliographic references
  • Cullen, Lucy, Fisher, Wendy and Jopek, Norbert, 'One by One': European Commemorative Medals for the Great War 1914-1918, London : Victoria & Albert Museum, 1998 23
  • Attwood, Philip, '"Hony Soit Qui Bon Y Pense": Medals as Vehicules of Antipathy', The Medal, no. 54, Spring 2009, pp. 4-34.
Collection
Accession number
A.142-1920

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Record createdJune 24, 2009
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