Memorial medal for Matthew Boulton
Conrad Heinrich Küchler (c.1740 - 1810)
Category
Coins and medals
Date
Unknown
Materials
Bronzed copper
Measurements
406 mm (Diameter)
Place of origin
Birmingham
Order this imageCollection
Osterley Park and House, London
NT 773317
Summary
Bronzed copper, memorial medal for Matthew Boulton (1728-1809), attributed to Conrad Heinrich Küchler (c. 1740-1810), struck Soho Mint, Birmingham, England, 1809. A bronzed copper medal, issued to commemorate the death of the engineer and manufacturer Matthew Boulton. On the obverse is a simple inscription ‘MATTHEW BOULTON DIED AUGUST 17TH 1809 AGED 81 YEARS’ and, on the reverse, ‘IN MEMORY OF HIS OBSEQUIES AUGST 24TH 1809’, within a palm wreath. The medal is contained within a plain metal capsule in two parts which fit together. The medal, perhaps by Conrad Heinrich Küchler, the chief designer at the Soho Mint, was struck for distribution among mourners at Boulton’s funeral, held in Birmingham on 24 August 1809, which included large numbers of workers in his manufactory.
Full description
Matthew Boulton was one of eighteenth-century Britain’s best-known entrepreneurs in the field of the decorative arts. He was born in Birmingham, where he was apprenticed in his father’s silver-stamping and -piercing business. On his father’s death in 1757, he established the Soho Manufactory, which became famous for the high quality of the metal and hardstone objects produced, employing highly skilled artists from this country and abroad. An inventor and technical innovator, Boulton also founded, with James Watt, the Soho Foundry for the manufacture of steam engines. Boulton was a leading figure in the scientific world and a Fellow of the Royal Societies of London and Edinburgh, whilst his home at Soho became a gathering place for scientists. The medal was struck for distribution to mourners at the funeral of Matthew Boulton, which took place on 24 August 1809, as recorded by The Gentleman’s Magazine (1809, p. 883): ‘On Thursday the 24th August the funeral of Mr Boulton took place at the parish church of Handsworth. A numerous and most respectable assemblage of his friends and upwards of 500 of his work people attended. To each of these and all other individuals who attended the funeral, a medallic token was presented, recording the age of the deceased and the day of his death.’ The medal was struck at the mint at Soho House in Birmingham, established by Boulton for the commercial production of coins and medals (see Matthew Boulton and the Art of Making Money). The Mint Memo-book recorded for 23 August 1809 that ‘For some days past the Hand-press has been used to strike Tokens in memory of Mr Boulton’s decease and obsiquies the total number struck are 530 to be distributed amongst Attendants and Workmen.’ The medal is anonymous, but may be the work of Conrad Heinrich Küchler (c. 1740-1810), a German-born medal and coin engraver who arrived in Britain in 1793 as a refugee following the French invasion of the Netherlands.He worked at Matthew Boulton’s manufactory in Birmingham from that year until his death in 1810, becoming Boulton’s principal designer and die-cutter at the Mint (see Pollard, ‘Matthew Boulton and Conrad Heinrich Küchler’). Although the medal is unsigned, the palm wreath and the lettering are close in style to those features in another medal certainly by Küchler also commemorating Boulton’s death. Jeremy Warren 2019
Provenance
Given to the National Trust in 1993 by George Child Villiers, 9th Earl of Jersey (1910-1998).
Marks and inscriptions
Obverse, legend: MATTHEW BOULTON DIED AUGUST 17TH 1809 AGED 81 YEARS. Reverse, legend: IN MEMORY OF HIS OBSEQUIES AUGST 24TH 1809.
Makers and roles
Conrad Heinrich Küchler (c.1740 - 1810), medallist
References
Grueber 1888: H.A. Grueber, ‘English Personal Medals from 1760’, The Numismatic Chronicle and Journal of the Numismatic Society, Third Series, Vol. 8 (1888), pp. 59-94, p. 86, no. 5. Eidlitz 1928: Robert James Eidlitz, Medallic Portraits of Matthew Boulton and James Watt, New York 1928, p. 9, no. 8, Pl.2. Pollard 1970: J.G. Pollard, ‘Matthew Boulton and Conrad Heinrich Küchler’, The Numismatic Chronicle, Seventh Series, Vol. 10 (1970), pp. 259-318, p. 311. Brown 1980: Laurence Brown, A catalogue of British historical medals 1760-1960, Vol.I. The accession of George III to the death of William IV, London 1980, p. 163, no. 662. Richard Clay and Sue Tungate, eds., Matthew Boulton and the Art of Making Money, exh. cat., Barber Institute of Fine Arts, Birmingham 2009, p. 57. Eimer 2010: Christopher Eimer, British Commemorative Medals and their Values, London 2010, p. 144, no. 1003.