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Plaquette
  • Plaquette
    Gosen, Theodor von, born 1873 - died 1943
  • Enlarge image

Plaquette

  • Place of origin:

    Germany (made)

  • Date:

    1914 (made)

  • Artist/Maker:

    Gosen, Theodor von, born 1873 - died 1943 (medallists)

  • Materials and Techniques:

    Bronze

  • Museum number:

    A.129-1920

  • Gallery location:

    In Storage

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.

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.

Place of Origin

Germany (made)

Date

1914 (made)

Artist/maker

Gosen, Theodor von, born 1873 - died 1943 (medallists)

Materials and Techniques

Bronze

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"
"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)"
rev.

Dimensions

Diameter: 97 mm

Descriptive line

Plaquette, third horseman of Apocalypse/inscrp; Bronze German 1914, T.Gosen.

Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)

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.

Materials

Bronze

Subjects depicted

Horse; Man; Scourge; Scales

Categories

Plaques & Plaquettes

Collection

Sculpture Collection

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