"Le Lion et le Rat"; Bronze Medallion, 1960

Item — Box: CFC Artifact Box 5

Identifier: CFC2021.0271.1

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

From the Collection:

The Carlson Fable Collection is a gathering of primary fable materials at Reinert Alumni Memorial Library at Creighton University. It grew out of the personal collection of fable materials gathered by Rev. Gregory Carlson, S.J. and was given to the Creighton Libraries in 1996. There are more than 10,000 books and approximately 8,000 artifacts in the collection.

From plates to stamps, from cards to whiskey decanters, from toys to posters, you'll find just about anything you can imagine here. Please explore all that is to offer here in my fables Catalogue of Objects.

This is the largest online catalog of fable related objects on the internet. Many are from Aesop's Fables but you will find La Fontaine, Velazquez and Krylov also represented in this collection.

Dates

1960

Extent

2 1/4'' Linear Feet

Language of Materials

French

Additional Description

Abstract

1960? Bronze medallion of "Le Lion et le Rat," signed by Alber(t) de Jaeger. Slightly over 2¼" diameter. The title of the fable is above an illustration of the netted lion, below which are the first two lines of the poem. The verso contains the fable from lines 5 through the end, with the second moral around the rim of the verso. $20 from numispechincha through Ebay, April 18.

I am surprised not to find this heavy medallion represented somewhere on the web. I feel like I have looked at hundreds of de Jaeger medallions, but not one representation of this one. The stylization of the net as absolutely symmetrical is perhaps the most unusual feature of this medallion. I wonder if it might be rare! Do not miss the tiny rat at work in the upper left corner of the net. Reading the tight presentation of the fable text on the verso is difficult! Might the medallion have come from some series?

Physical Description

Translation: FRONT: The Lion and the Rat We must, as much as we can, oblige everyone We often need a little helper. BACK: Between the paws of the lion a rat emerged inattentively the king of animals, on this occasion showed himself and granted him life This act of good faith was not lost. Would anyone ever believe that the lion and the rat had a need for one another. However it happened, when they were leaving the forest, the lion was caught in a hunters net, which his roars could not undo Sir rat ran up and did so much with his teeth, that heknawed through the net.