a terracotta medallion, head in profile to dexter, bare-headed and with hair to his shoulders, surrounding inscription 'ERIPUIT.COELO.FULMEN.SCEPTRUMQUE. TIRANNIS. MDCCLXXIX' (He snatched the lightning shaft from heaven and the sceptre from tyrants, 1779), pierced through top edge to back for suspension, 15cm diameter

Jacques-Donatien Le Ray de Chaumont, Louis XVI's intendant at the Invalides and a great supporter of the Americans against the British, provided lodgings for Franklin during his stay in Paris. Chaumont had put the sculptor/medallist Jean-Baptiste Nini in charge of his pottery at Chaumont-sur-Loire and shortly after Franklin moved into Chaumont’s apartment, Nini produced his terracotta of the so-called 'fur hat' portrait, in the next two years making seven different versions of portraits of Franklin, many moulded in Chaumont terracotta.

Provenance: the Estate of Louisa Service OBE (1931-2021), sold by order of the executors.