Page 195 - Features of an Era

A commemorative medal of Napoléon
Bonaparte. One side bears his bust
surrounded by the legend: «BOUNAPARTE
LIBÉRATEUR DE L’EGYPTE» (Bonaparte,
the Liberator of Egypt), the signature
«IETTON» in the exergue, silver, diam. 3.1

cm, 1799.

A commemorative medal documenting the
French campaign’s conquest of Lower
Egypt, silver, diam. 3.1 cm.

A commemorative medal honoring the
memory of General Kléber, signed by
Puymaurin D. and Dubois F., bronze, diam. 4

cm, 1800.

We also view some medals that were minted as memorials for later occasions
during which Egypt was as equal as France at the political level, including that
commemorative medal that marks the erection of the Egyptian obelisk in the Place
de la Concorde in Paris. One side shows the portrait of King Louis-Philippe I of
France. The other side depicts a symbolic scene of France looking at the Nile and
the pyramids and the obelisk appears in the middle with the Latin inscription: «NILI
DONUM SEQUANAE ORNAMENTUM» (The Nile offers the Seine an ornament),
and a commemorative medal marks the visit of Ibrahim Pasha to King Louis-Philippe
I. One side shows the head of Louis- Philippe I. The other side bears a Turkish
inscription showing the name of Ibrahim Pasha and the date of the visit.

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