Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

East India College, goid prize medal, ‘The Reward of Merit’, unnamed, mounted in an old display with an oval silhouette portrait of a gentleman on plaster, details heightened in gold, the reverse with trade label of John Miers, Profile Painter & Jeweller (1765-1821), very fine £400-600

A faint pencil inscription on the reverse label suggests that the sitter could be Josiah Marshall Heath who attended the East India College, 1806-07, and won a medal for Sanskrit. Of the hundreds of silhouette artists active during the Regency, John Miers is generally regarded as the greatest. He worked mainly on plaster with his hallmark highlighting effects to the hair and dress of his sitter.