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Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Sculpture, Room 111, The Gilbert Bayes Gallery

Kunz Peck and his sons Sebald, Hans Peter and Linhard

Medal
ca. 1530-1535 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This is a lead medal made by Kunz Peck and his sons Sebald, Hans Peter and Linhard. The medal has only an obverse and represents busts of Kunz Peck facing front, embracing his sons Sebald (left), Hans and Linhard (right). All are bare-headed and bearded. This medal is highly idiosyncratic in composition and style. Habich tentatively assigned it to Hans Peisser, nothing paralles between its oval shape and wreathed border and those of one of Peisser's works. It has also been suggested that the medal might be Netherlandish. Kunz Peck, a sculptor and joiner, was a citizen of Nuremberg, however, and Habich comments that the work could well have been produced by Peck himself. The warmth of the image, together with the unusual oval form, suggest that it may well be a self-portrait of the artist with his sons. Sebald Peck was also a noted sculptor and architect, and it is also possible that it was he who created this medal. His brothers Hans Peter and Linhard were both joiners. It is worth comparing this medal with the 1519 medal of the five Pfinzing brothers by Hans Schwarz. Their jugate busts are ranged in profile, while here the family grouping is more integrated. The motto on the cartouche is of the type normally found on reverses of medals, and is a further exceptional aspect of this medal.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleKunz Peck and his sons Sebald, Hans Peter and Linhard (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Alloy of lead and tin
Brief description
Medal (plaquette), lead, Kunz Peck and his sons Sebald, Hans Peter and Linhard, probably by Kunz Peck, Germany, ca. 1530-1535
Physical description
This uniface medal or plaquette depicts the busts of Kunz Peck (facing front), embracing his sons. Kunz's right forearm and hand and his left hand are visible. Generalized drapery is swathed around the necks of the four men. Wreath border.
Dimensions
  • Height: 6,4cm
  • Width: 9.35cm
  • Weight: 153g
Marks and inscriptions
  • 'ECCE QVA BONV ET / QVAM IOCVNDVM HA. / BITARE FRATRES INVN.' (Latin, in a cartouche at the bottom of the field)
    Translation
    Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. [Psalm 133]
  • 'KUNCZ PECK MIT DREIEN SVNEN HANS PE[ter] LINHAR-T SEB . ALT (Legend, latin )
    Translation
    'Kunz Peck with [his] three sons, Hans Peter, Linhard, and Sebald'
Object history
Provenance: Tross. 140 medals and reliefs were purchased from M. Henri Tross of Paris for £500 by J.C. Robinson for the Museum in 1867.
Subjects depicted
Summary
This is a lead medal made by Kunz Peck and his sons Sebald, Hans Peter and Linhard. The medal has only an obverse and represents busts of Kunz Peck facing front, embracing his sons Sebald (left), Hans and Linhard (right). All are bare-headed and bearded. This medal is highly idiosyncratic in composition and style. Habich tentatively assigned it to Hans Peisser, nothing paralles between its oval shape and wreathed border and those of one of Peisser's works. It has also been suggested that the medal might be Netherlandish. Kunz Peck, a sculptor and joiner, was a citizen of Nuremberg, however, and Habich comments that the work could well have been produced by Peck himself. The warmth of the image, together with the unusual oval form, suggest that it may well be a self-portrait of the artist with his sons. Sebald Peck was also a noted sculptor and architect, and it is also possible that it was he who created this medal. His brothers Hans Peter and Linhard were both joiners. It is worth comparing this medal with the 1519 medal of the five Pfinzing brothers by Hans Schwarz. Their jugate busts are ranged in profile, while here the family grouping is more integrated. The motto on the cartouche is of the type normally found on reverses of medals, and is a further exceptional aspect of this medal.
Bibliographic references
  • Trusted, Marjorie. German Renaissance Medals: a Catalogue of the Collection in the Victoria and Albert Museum. London: Victoria & Albert Museum, 1990, p. 87
  • Inventory of Art Objects acquired in the Year 1867. Inventory of the Objects in the Art Division of the Museum at South Kensington, arranged According to the Dates of their Acquisition. Vol. 1. London : Printed by George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode for H.M.S.O., 1868, p. 15
  • Weber, I. Deusche, Niedesländische und Französische Renaissance Plaketten. Munich, 1975, p. 100, cat. no. 90
  • Habich, Georg. ed. Die deutschen Schaumünzen des XVI. Jahrhunderts herausgegeben mit Unterstützung der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Notgemeinschaft der deutschen Wissenschaft Auftrag des Deutschen Vereins für Kunstwissenschaft. München: Bruckmann, 1929-1934, I, II, p. 200, no. 1435, fig. 176
Collection
Accession number
83-1867

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Record createdMarch 2, 2004
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