Engraved depiction of a fragment of a sovereign of Elizabeth I; the obverse with Elizabeth's face is depicted on the left side of the design, and the reverse is depicted on the right side and "Genuine gold pound sovereign of Elizabeth I, retooled to depict her as an old hag and purporting to have been defaced by her in a fury. ... This gold fragment has no known history prior to 1742, when it was acquired by Horace Walpole at the sale of the Earl of Oxford's collection. Walpole described it as 'a fragment of one of her last broad pieces, representing her horridly old and deformed: An entire coin with this image is not known: It is universally supposed that the die was broken by her command, and that some workman of the mint cut out this morsel, which contains barely the face ... it has never been engraved'. As knowledge of the piece did not extend beyond Walpole and his circle, the suggestions as to its origin must be Walpole's own, rather than any real general opinion. ... The motive behind the original work remains unclear. It is obviously an attack on Elizabeth's alleged vanity, but whether the standpoint was political (republican or aristocratic hostility), religious (Catholic or extreme Protestant reaction to the glorification of Elizabeth's role in the English religious settlement), moralistic, or just mischievous cannot now be ascertained."--British Museum online catalogue, description of the original fragment after which this plate was engraved
Alternative Title:
Gold fragment of Queen Elizabeth's last broad piece
Description:
Title devised by curator; alternative title from Horace Walpole's description of the fragment in his work: A description of the villa of Mr. Horace Walpole., Publication information from that of the volume for which the plate was engraved., Plate from: Walpole, H. A catalogue of the royal and noble authors of England. [Twickenham, England] : Printed at Strawberry-Hill, 1758, v. 1, page 126., Sheet trimmed to plate mark., Horace Walpole kept the original gold fragment, now in the British Museum, in the rose-wood case in the Library at Strawberry Hill. For a description of the fragment, see the British Museum online catalogue, registration no.: E.3392., and Mounted on page 89 of Horace Walpole's extra-illustrated copy of his: A description of the villa of Mr. Horace Walpole. Strawberry Hill : Printed by Thomas Kirgate, 1784. See Hazen, A.T. Bibliography of the Strawberry Hill Press (1973 ed.), no. 30, copy 12.
Publisher:
Printed at Strawberry-Hill
Subject (Name):
Elizabeth I, Queen of England, 1533-1603, and Strawberry Hill (Twickenham, London, England)