Hubert François Gravelot

Gravelot's design is likely preparatory for a medal or the lid of a snuffbox. The vignette depicts four figures in a circular border illustrating Aesop's fable of the father teaching his sons the lesson of the bundle of sticks, with "Concordia Victrix" above, and the date 1767 in Roman numerals (M.DCC.LXVII) below. The drawing is squared for transfer to another support and the letters a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h appear in the grid along the upper margin. A related drawing in black chalk showing the same group of figures is in the Paul Mellon collection at the Yale Center for British Art (Acc. No. B1975.4.445). There is a reduced-scale version of this design, also squared and lettered at the top, and on the same green and gold Roederer mount, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Acc. No. 44.54.48).