DOI article:
Taradaj, Paulina: Quo non augustior alter: a few remarks on the series of small medals issued to commemorate the maneuvers of the Saxon armies at Mühlberg in 1730
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49247#0200
PAULINA TARADAJ
196
Type 2 consists of the image of a rider on a horse stepping right, with the following
inscription in the surround: qvo non avgvstior - alter.28 or qvo non avgv. -
STIOR alter29 (No other is more August).30 The obverses with this representation
combine with the type 1 inscriptions Campus noster...31 (Pl. 1, Fig. 3, Cat. 3)
and Europae rediens...,32
Besides this, there are two other versions in this series. One medal has the rider
on the horse from type 1 plus the inscription qvo non avgv. - stior alter; the other
medal has the image from type 2 plus the same inscription33 (Pl. 1, Fig. 4, Cat. 4).
This article investigates the function of the above-mentioned medals, that is, the
ones bearing the image of Augustus II on horseback, for their role can be misleading on
account of their association with the statue of the Golden Rider in Dresden, inaugurated
in 1736.34 While it is true that a model of this equestrian statue existed in 1730,35
these medals do not seem to have any connection to it. The first important difference
has to do with the depiction of the rider. While the equestrian statue represents him
on a rearing horse, with a commander’s staff in his hand, the medals of interest to
us show him on a stepping horse. This image resembles to a large extent the bronze
statue of Augustus II executed in Paris before 1715 by an artist from the circle of
Franęois Girardon which itself was inspired by the giant equestrian statue of Louis XIV,
which stood on the Place Vendome until the outbreak of the French Revolution.36 On
the other hand, a certain connection exists between the image of a ruler on a stepping
horse and the word ovans used in one of the inscriptions. What’s more, we have
a reference to the titles made use of by Roman emperors (Pius Felix). In ancient Rome,
an ovation (ovatio) was a form of distinction for a victorious commander, but it stood
below a triumph, which had its own strictly defined visual representation. Unlike
the triumph, in which the victor had the right to ride through Rome on a chariot, the
commander in an ovation entered the city on horseback.37
28 WOHLFAHRT 1992: 397, no. 30013.
29 WOHLFAHRT 1992: 396 -397, nos. 30009, 30011,30012.
30 These words appear in Blosius Palladius’ Suburbanum August'mi Chisii (verse 277), published in Rome
in 1512 in connection to the bridge of Hadrian (Pons Aelius, later Ponte Sant’Angelo), which served as a passage
for Roman cardinals. Sec: QUIN1AN-MCGRATH 1990: 131-133.
31 Inv. no. MNK VlI-Md-872, this being the version that reads as follows: QVO NON AVGVSTIOR ALTER;
sec: HUTTEN-CZAPSKI 1880: 63, no. 5975; WOHLFAHRT 1992: 397, no. 30013, this being the version that
reads as follows: QVO NON AVGV. - STIOR ALTER; sec: WOHLFAHRT 1992: 397, no. 30012.
32 WOHLFAHRT 1992: 396, no. 30011.
33 Inv. no. MNK VII-Md-875, WOHLFAHRT 1992: 396, 30009.
34 Cf. ZACHER 2013: 20.
35 GURLITT 1903: 622; sec also: KAPPEL 1997: 138-139, IV 11.
36 Sec: ARNOLD 1997: 72,1 1.
37 BALBUZA2005: 39.
196
Type 2 consists of the image of a rider on a horse stepping right, with the following
inscription in the surround: qvo non avgvstior - alter.28 or qvo non avgv. -
STIOR alter29 (No other is more August).30 The obverses with this representation
combine with the type 1 inscriptions Campus noster...31 (Pl. 1, Fig. 3, Cat. 3)
and Europae rediens...,32
Besides this, there are two other versions in this series. One medal has the rider
on the horse from type 1 plus the inscription qvo non avgv. - stior alter; the other
medal has the image from type 2 plus the same inscription33 (Pl. 1, Fig. 4, Cat. 4).
This article investigates the function of the above-mentioned medals, that is, the
ones bearing the image of Augustus II on horseback, for their role can be misleading on
account of their association with the statue of the Golden Rider in Dresden, inaugurated
in 1736.34 While it is true that a model of this equestrian statue existed in 1730,35
these medals do not seem to have any connection to it. The first important difference
has to do with the depiction of the rider. While the equestrian statue represents him
on a rearing horse, with a commander’s staff in his hand, the medals of interest to
us show him on a stepping horse. This image resembles to a large extent the bronze
statue of Augustus II executed in Paris before 1715 by an artist from the circle of
Franęois Girardon which itself was inspired by the giant equestrian statue of Louis XIV,
which stood on the Place Vendome until the outbreak of the French Revolution.36 On
the other hand, a certain connection exists between the image of a ruler on a stepping
horse and the word ovans used in one of the inscriptions. What’s more, we have
a reference to the titles made use of by Roman emperors (Pius Felix). In ancient Rome,
an ovation (ovatio) was a form of distinction for a victorious commander, but it stood
below a triumph, which had its own strictly defined visual representation. Unlike
the triumph, in which the victor had the right to ride through Rome on a chariot, the
commander in an ovation entered the city on horseback.37
28 WOHLFAHRT 1992: 397, no. 30013.
29 WOHLFAHRT 1992: 396 -397, nos. 30009, 30011,30012.
30 These words appear in Blosius Palladius’ Suburbanum August'mi Chisii (verse 277), published in Rome
in 1512 in connection to the bridge of Hadrian (Pons Aelius, later Ponte Sant’Angelo), which served as a passage
for Roman cardinals. Sec: QUIN1AN-MCGRATH 1990: 131-133.
31 Inv. no. MNK VlI-Md-872, this being the version that reads as follows: QVO NON AVGVSTIOR ALTER;
sec: HUTTEN-CZAPSKI 1880: 63, no. 5975; WOHLFAHRT 1992: 397, no. 30013, this being the version that
reads as follows: QVO NON AVGV. - STIOR ALTER; sec: WOHLFAHRT 1992: 397, no. 30012.
32 WOHLFAHRT 1992: 396, no. 30011.
33 Inv. no. MNK VII-Md-875, WOHLFAHRT 1992: 396, 30009.
34 Cf. ZACHER 2013: 20.
35 GURLITT 1903: 622; sec also: KAPPEL 1997: 138-139, IV 11.
36 Sec: ARNOLD 1997: 72,1 1.
37 BALBUZA2005: 39.