Pelican in Her Piety and Inscription [reverse], c. 1482

[1] The medal's provenance is given by George Francis Hill as "from the Stroganoff Collection" (The Gustave Dreyfus Collection: Renaissance Medals, Oxford, 1931: no. 127), without naming a specific member of the family. Stroganoff collectors from whom Dreyfus might have acquired the medal were Sergei Grigorievich Stroganoff (1794-1882) and two of his sons, Paul Sergeievich Stroganoff (1823-1911) and Grigory Sergeievich Stroganoff (1829-1910). Sergei and Paul kept their collections in Russia, while Grigory lived the second half of his life in Rome. See Stroganoff: The Palace and Collections of a Russian Noble Family, ed. Penelope Hunter-Stiebel, (exh. cat. Portland Museum of Art [Oregon] and Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth), New York, 2000.

[2] The Duveen Brothers Records document the firm’s sixteen year pursuit and eventual acquisition of the Dreyfus collection, which included paintings, sculptures, small bronzes, medals, and plaquettes. Bequeathed as part of his estate to Dreyfus’ widow and five children (a son and four daughters), who had differing opinions about its disposition, the collection was not sold until after his widow’s death in April 1929. Duveen did not wish to separate Dreyfus’ collection of small bronzes, medals, and plaquettes, and it was sold intact to the Kress Foundation for a price that was met by installment payments every three months. (Duveen Brothers Records, accession number 960015, Research Library, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles: reel 301, box 446, folders 3 and 4; reel 302, box 447, folders 1-6; reel 303, box 448, folders 1 and 2; reel 330, box 475, folder 4.) See also George Francis Hill’s discussion "A Note on Pedigrees" in his catalogue, The Gustave Dreyfus Collection: Renaissance Medals, Oxford, 1931: xii, which was commissioned by Duveen Brothers.