Fine and rare 18th century portrait medallion of celebrated English poet and translator Alexander Pope. Of oval form and carved in high relief, this work is carved from one piece of solid hardwood. Pope faces right in profile, within a gilded frame, and he wears the laurel crown which symbolises the triumph of a poet or genius. This fine, rare and highly decorative work is in unmolested condition, and retains a large proportion of its original patina.Alexander Pope (1688-1744)The son of a linen-draper, Pope was first noticed by Jacob Tonson who published his Pastorals in 1709. With The Rape of the Lock 1712, and his translations of Homer, Pope became the most formidable literary figure of his day, with a large circle of friends and enemies. Primarily a satirical poet and of unsurpassed metrical skill, he wrote ''what oft was thought, but ne''er so well expressed''. A friend of Swift and Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, and famous in the history of landscape gardening for the grou...