AUSTRIA
BRONZE MEDAL
Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall (1774-1856).
On the orientalists and first president of
the Academy of Sciences in Vienna. Bronze medal (1847) by C. Radnitzky.
Obv: portrait to the left.the bust of Jospeh von
Hammer-Purgstalls in profile to the left.His name and the artist's signature
with the year of issue are all around
Rev: frontal view of a colossus of Memnon in a
tondo with a surrounding quotation from the Koran in German. Oriental patterns
and 12 ellipses with animal symbols are placed around the tondo.
Wurzbach 3554.
Condition UNC.
Weight: 76.75 g.
Diameter: 52mm
Born Joseph Hammer in Graz, Styria (now
Austria), he received his early education mainly in Vienna. Entering the
diplomatic service in 1796, he was appointed in 1799 to a position in the
Austrian embassy in Istanbul, and in this capacity he took part in the
expedition under Admiral William Sidney Smith and General John Hely-Hutchinson
against France. In 1807 he returned home from the East, after which he was made
a privy councillor.
In 1824 he was knighted (Chevalier).
For fifty years Hammer-Purgstall wrote prolifically on the most diverse subjects
and published numerous texts and translations of Arabic, Persian and Turkish
authors. He was the first to publish a complete translation of the divan of
Hafez into a western language.[1] By traversing so large a field, he laid
himself open to the criticism of specialists, and he was severely handled by
Heinrich Friedrich von Diez (1751–1817), who, in his Unfug und Betrug in der
morgenländischen Litteratur, nebst vielen hundert Proben von der groben
Unwissenheit des H. v. Hammer zu Wien in Sprachen und Wissenschaften (1815),
devoted to him nearly 600 pages of abuse. He also came into friendly conflict on
the subject of the origin of The Thousand and One Nights with his younger
English contemporary Edward William Lane.
He supported the foundation of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna and
became the Academy's first president (1847–1849). The Austrian Oriental Society,
founded in 1959 to foster cultural relations with the Near East, is formally
named 'Österreichische Orient-Gesellschaft Hammer-Purgstall' in recognition of
Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall's accomplishments.
In 1847 he received a medal commissioned by a friend of his, Ludwig August von
Frankl. The reverse references some of his works in pictures.
He died in Vienna on 23 November 1856.
REF 19 782
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