Object Number 1952.0033

Object Name

Medal (Peace medal)

Title

Thomas Jefferson Peace and Friendship

Category

Metals

Credit Line/Donor

Gift of Henry Francis du Pont

Creator (Role)

Robert P. Scott (Designer and engraver)

Philadelphia Mint (Manufacturer)
1792

United States Mint (Manufacturer)
1792
The Mint was established by the U.S. Congress in 1792 with The Coinage Act. David Rittenhouse was appointed the first director by President George Washington and the Mint was erected in Philadelphia.

John Matthew Reich (Manufacturer)
1767-1832

Jean-Antoine Houdon (Inspiration for design)
1741-1828
Houdon studied under Slodtz, Pigalle, and Lemoyne at the ancienne école académique and at the age of twenty won the Prix de Rome. Three years later, Houdon obtained a residency at the Académie de France in Rome, and in Italy, he discovered the newly uncovered works at Herculaneum and Pompeii as well as works of the Renaissance sculptors, especially Michelangelo. A year after his return to Paris in 1768, Houdon was received into the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture. In 1771, Houdon became a member of the Acadmie, presenting his marble 'Morpheus' as his reception piece; Houdon was named professor at the Académie in 1778. Throughout his career, he moved easily between a style of controlled classicism and a baroque dynamism, adapting the treatment to the nature of the subject. His work also displays a rigorous realism, inspired by quattrocentro sculpture and based on in-depth anatomical studies. His sense of classical restraint coupled with an incisive understanding of and ability to depict human character give Houdon's portraits their particular vitality and reflective expression. (Source: ULAN).

Place of Origin

Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Mid-Atlantic, United States, North America

Date

1801-1804

Mark or Signature or Inscription or Label

1. Inscription; Obverse, border; "TH. JEFFERSON PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.A, D.1801" stamped
2. Inscription; Reverse; "PEACE / AND / FRIENDSHIP" stamped

Subjects

Thomas Jefferson; Native American; President; Government; Eagle; Indigenous peoples

Materials

Silver

Techniques

Stamped

Dimensions (inches)

2.559 (H) , 2.165 (Diam) , 1.2699 (Weight)

Dimensions (centimeters)

6.5 (H) , 5.5 (Diam) , 36 (Weight)

Object Description

Web - 06/21/2024

This silver medal is of the smallest of the three sizes produced by the United States Mint for President Jefferson’s 1804 delegation captained by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to traverse North America to the Pacific Ocean. One side bears a profile portrait of Thomas Jefferson and the opposite side features two clasped male hands clasped in peace and friendship beneath the crossed stems of a tobacco pipe and an axe or tomahawk. These medals were produced to be offered to Native American tribal leaders as official messages and negotiations were conveyed by Jefferson’s delegation. This example lost its original mount on the top, but was drilled so it could continue to be suspended or attached as an adornment.

Bibliography and Bibliographic Notes

[Book] Quimby, Ian M. G. 1995 American Silver at Winterthur.
• Published: p. 442, no. 464
[Book] Prucha, Francis Paul. 1971 Indian Peace Medals in American History. 186 p.
• For information on peace medals, pp. 316-24, 90-95
[Book] Prucha, Francis Paul. 1971 Indian Peace Medals in American History. 186 p.
• For information on the sizes of peace medals, p. 93
[Book] Sweeney, John A. H. 1963 The Treasure House of Early American Rooms.
• Published, p. 85
[Other] Woodman, Sarah Suzanne. Two Sides to Every Coin: The Duplicity of Jefferson Peace Medals.
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[Article] Cheryl Gunselman and Roderick Sprague. 2003 A Buried Promise: The Palus Jefferson Peace Medal. Journal of Northwest Anthropology. 37 (1): 53-90.
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[Article] Nash, Stephen E. & Lee, Lawrence J. 03/25/2022 Indian Peace Medals and Other Medals at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. Denver Museum of Nature & Science Annals. 9
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