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

Plaquette

1914 (made)
Artist/Maker
Gosen, Theodor Von (medallists)
Place of origin
Germany (made)

This plaquette, one of four plaquettes (127 to 130-1920) representing the riders of the Apocalypse, was made by Theodor von Gosen in Germany, 1914. The Apocalypse was already a subject widespread in European art in about 1900, and was common in German expressionist art by 1914. One of the sources here is probably Dürer's engraving of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. The form of the inscription of the reverse is based on those seen on German Renaissance medals. The rider in this plaquette represents the scourages of human kind: war, death, famine, and destruction.


Object details

Category
Plaques & Plaquettes
Object type
Plaquette
Materials and techniques
Bronze
Bronze
Brief description
Plaquette, third horseman of Apocalypse/inscrp; Bronze German 1914, T.Gosen.
Physical description
Obv., a man on horseback, holding a pair of scales in his right hand, and a scourge in his left. Below fighting is shown in front of a town. Rev., a legend.
Dimensions
  • Diameter: 97mm
Marks and inscriptions
  • "MCMXIV," "TG" (obv.)
  • "UND/ICH SAH UND/SIEHE EIN SCHWARZ/PFERD UND DER DRAUF/SASS HATTE EINE WAGE IN/DER HAND UND ICH HÖRTE/EINE STIMME UNTER DEN/TIEREN SAGEN EINE/MASS WEIZEN UM EINEN/GROSCHEN IND DREI/MASS GERSTE UM/EINEN GROSCHEN" (rev.)
    Translation
    "And I saw there a black horse, whose rider carried in his hand a pair of scales and I heard a voice that came from where the living figures were. A silver piece it said for a quart of wheat, a silver piece for three quarts of barley (Apocalypse, VI, 5-6)"
Subjects depicted
Man
Horse
Scales
Scourge
Summary
This plaquette, one of four plaquettes (127 to 130-1920) representing the riders of the Apocalypse, was made by Theodor von Gosen in Germany, 1914. The Apocalypse was already a subject widespread in European art in about 1900, and was common in German expressionist art by 1914. One of the sources here is probably Dürer's engraving of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. The form of the inscription of the reverse is based on those seen on German Renaissance medals. The rider in this plaquette represents the scourages of human kind: war, death, famine, and destruction.
Bibliographic reference
Gullen, Lucy, Fisher, Wendy and Nobert Jopek. [Exhibition handlist] 'One by One': European Commemorative Medals of the Great War 1914-1918. Victoria and London: Albert Museum, 1998. p. 30. Handlist of exhibition held Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1998-1999. nos. 4, 5.
Collection
Sculpture Collection
Accession number
A.129-1920

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Record createdJune 24, 2009
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O349370/plaquette-gosen-theodor-von/
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