Oval Medallion - Styles and Influences
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Oval Medallion with a Portrait of Louis XIV
France; early 18th c.
The King (1638-1715) is shown in right profile with copious, high-piled, curled hair. The sign of the sun is conspicuous on his right shoulder. He wears a jabot.
The sculptor has shown him amazingly realistically sometime between the ages of 65 and 68, just at the turn of the century. The skin round the eyes, mouth and beard is clearly that of an elderly man.