France Bronze Medal 1753 - Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu - Louis XV (1715-1774)

France Bronze Medal 1753 - Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu - Louis XV (1715–1774)
100.29g. 60mm. UNC/UNC. Medalier: Jacques-Antoine Dassier (1715–1759). Eisler 357; BDM I, 511. Obv.: Draped bust of Montesquieu left, in antique style. Inscription around: CAROL. DE SECONDAT BARO DE MONTESQVIEV. (Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu). Rev.: Allegory of Truth, seated in the clouds to left, writing with a quill on an open book inscribed ESPRIT / DES / LOIX (“The Spirit of the Laws”), facing Justice, standing to right, crowned and holding a balance and her blindfold. Inscription around: HINC IVRA. (From this, justice). In exergue: 1753. Signed: J. A. DASSIER. This medal honors Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu (1689–1755), one of the most influential philosophers of the French Enlightenment. His seminal work De l’esprit des lois (The Spirit of the Laws, 1748) laid the foundations for modern political theory and the separation of powers, shaping constitutional thought across Europe and the Americas. The reverse allegory symbolizes Truth inspiring Justice, a direct reference to Montesquieu’s belief that law and liberty arise from reason and moral clarity - a principle that deeply influenced the age of Louis XV and the later development of democratic institutions. Jacques-Antoine Dassier (1715–1759) was a distinguished 18th-century medallist from Geneva and the son of the renowned Jean Dassier. Continuing his father’s artistic legacy, Jacques-Antoine refined the classical style and precision that characterized the Dassier workshop. After his early work in Geneva and London, he entered the service of the Imperial Mint in St. Petersburg, where he engraved dies for coins and medals of the Russian Empire under Elizabeth Petrovna. His artistry brought the refined traditions of Western European medallic portraiture into Russian numismatic art, marking a significant stage in its development. Through his elegant execution and clarity of form, Jacques-Antoine Dassier made a lasting contribution to both European and Russian medallic art of the Enlightenment era.