France, 1848. France. J.P. Marat, a large uniface cast bronze medal, signed P. d’Asson (?), bust left in cap, NE POUVANT LE CORROMPRE ILS L’ONT ASSASSINE behind, MARAT, L’AMI DU PEUPLE below, 225mm. Pierced for suspension at top, an excellent high-relief cast, better than very fine, rare (£150-180)

Jean Paul Marat (1743-93), Swiss-born physician and one of the most notorious figures at the centre of the French Revolution. He became physician to the Comte d’Artois (later Charles X), but achieved wider acclaim from his writings. His newspaper, L’Ami du Peuple, denounced deputies, ministers and the crown, and he was forced to seek refuge in England, but his popularity among the rank and file in Paris led him to return and his greatest triumph came when the Convention was purged by insurrection in June 1793. A month later, on 13 July 1793, he was stabbed to death in his bath by the demented Girondiste supporter Charlotte Corday, portrayed in Peter Weiss’ 1965 screenplay, Marat/Sade, by the fledgling actress and now British MP, Glenda Jackson.

The signature of the artist on the truncation is unclear; the date, in the same location, can just be read as 1848