Who was PHILISTION ?

PHILISTION (Greek). Engravers, if not Magistrates, of that name, or presumably of that name, have signed coins of various Mints of Magna Graecia, at different periods, during the fifth and fourth centuries B.C. It is impossible to determine the work of each one individually, although some writers have been successful in so far tracing the same treatment and style of work on coin-dies of a same epoch and of different mints, and thus shown that one and the same engraver may have been employed at more than one locality at the same time. Under the name of Philistion I shall however content myself in describing some of the principal coin-types bearing the signatures ?, ?I|, ?I?I?, ?I?I?TI?N, etc., which are now supposed to represent artists of the name of Philistion, without attempting to discriminate between the various Engravers. Amongst the monetary productions of Magna-Graecian mints, there is a group of coins, which all bear the signature ?,and the style of which is closely connected with the art of the Athenian school of Pheidias (q. v. supra). Prof. Reginald Stuart-Poole has been the first to draw attention to the close connection of the earliest type of coins of Thurii with its Athenian prototype (Athenian Coin-engravers in Italy, Num. Chron., 1883). The Thurian issues signed ? are of particularly fine style, and comprize Staters, on which Athene's helmet is simply adorned with an olive-wreath, and Distaters showing the Monster Skylla on the side of the helmet. These coin-types are now ascribed by Dr A. Sambon, with every evidence of reason, to the artist PHRYGILLOS (q. v infra). Prof. Stuart Poole suggested the identification of the artist ?, who is supposed to have engraved the series of coins mentioned above, with the Engraver who signs ?I, ?I?I?, ?I?I?TI or ?I?I?TI?N on coins of Terina, Velia, Tarentum, Herakleia, and Metapontum. Both Dr Arthur Evans and Prof. Furtwängler have refuted this theory and shown that not only the style is entirely different, but that the coins also are of a considerably later period. Several Metapontine Didrachms bear the inscription ?I, which may represent also ?I??..., an Engraver or Magistrate's name (Vide B.M. Cat., Italy, p. 253, nos 114, 125, 130). TARENTUM. On coins of that Mint, the artists' signatures API and KA? are often found associated, as well as on the coins of Herakleia, with that of the Engraver ? or ?I. Among the most interesting of these types, I will only mention : Didrachms. Evans, Horsemen of Tarentum, type of PI. III, 8 (several varieties. For full description, and other illustrations, cf. Forrer, Les Signatures de Graveurs sur les Monnaies grecques, Bruxelles, 1906) ; — Diobols, with heads of Pallas, to r., Herakles facing, and in profile, all with the R. Herakles strangling the Nemean lion, a type evidently copied from Herakleian coins. The signature ? occurs either on the obv. or R. ; — Didrachms. Evans, type PI. IV, 3 (sev. var); PI. IV, n° 11 (with the signature ?l on the R. (sev. var.) ; PI. IV, n° 8 (with similar signature; obv. by KA? ; R. Taras riding on dolphin to r., and holding in 1. hand a strung bow and two arrows, and in his r., behind him, another arrow ; beneath, ?l). A further series of Tarentine coins bear the signatures ?l, ?I?I or ?l?I?. These coins belong to the Period comprised between 334 and 330 B.C., corresponding to that of the Velian didrachms signed ?I?I?TI?N in full. With the signature ?l. Didrachm. Evans, PI. IV, 1. ?l on obv. (illustrated) ; — Another, with R Taras, represented as a child, riding on dolphin to 1., resting r. hand on dolphin and holding with 1. a distaff; ?l and waves; in the field, eagle (Car. CXIV, 215). There are several varieties (Evans, PI. VI, 3, 4; p. 101, n° 1, etc.). With the signature ?I?I. Didrachm. Evans, PI. VI, 5. (Obv. ?l?I ; R. ?l). Several varieties. With the signature ?l?I?. Didrachm. Evans, PI. VI, 2. Several varieties. (For full descriptions of coins, and varieties, cf. Forrer, op. cit.). “ The work of the Tarentine Die-sinker Philis... suggests ", says Dr Evans, "a hand accustomed to intaglio on gems. The engraving itself is often of microscopic minuteness, and we are occasionally struck by a certain preposterous perverseness in the exercise of this Liliputian faculty, the personal signature being writ large, while that of the Tarentine city shrinks to almost invisible dimensions. It looks like the satisfaction taken by an artist, who accustomed himself to sign in full though as inconspicuously as possible, found the expression of his skill in minute lettering hampered by the contemporary custom of the Tarentine mint, which obliged him to attach to his handiwork an abbreviated but manifest signature, as an official rather than an aesthetic guarantee. Nor could he, as in the case of Philistion on the Velian coins, gratify his taste by combining his full signature. The character of the Tarentine types, the entire absence of such facilities as that supplied by the helmeted head on the Velian pieces, or even of an exergual line capable, as at Thurioi, of being used as a label, precluded all such expedients". To the same period, circ. B.C. 344-322, belongs a Drachm of Terina, signed ?I?I? (B. M. CAT, Italy, p. 391, n° 30), and another, signed ?I?I?TI (Garrucci, op. cit.,Pl. CXVII, 17). Dr Evans (Horsemen, Sec, pp.111-114) suggests that the Engraver of these coins is the same Philistion, who signed in full the Velian didrachms, and Tarentine coins with his initials only (Vide Forrer, Signatures, &c).

Source: Biographical dictionary of medallists; coin, gem, and seal-engravers, mint-masters, ancient and modern, with references to their works B.C. 500-A.D. 1900; compiled by L. Forrer, London 1904

PENIN, LUDOVIC
PENIN, LUDOVIC (French). Medallist, born at Lyons, 8. January 1830, son of Marius Penin. He entered the School of Fine Arts at Lyons in 1847, and studied under J. Fabisch. In 1860 he took the direction of his father's die-sinking establishment. In 1864 he was appointed Engraver to H. H. Pius IX. He died on 16. March 1868, at the early age of 38. His best known medals are: Commemorative medal of N.-D. de France at Puy ; — Agricultural, Musical, Religious, &c. Prize medals; — Sociétés de secours d...
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PENIN, MARIUS PONS JEAN BAPTISTE
PENIN, MARIUS PONS JEAN BAPTISTE (French). Medallist, born at Barjols (Var.), 15. August 1807, died there, 9. November 1883. Son of a goldsmith, he developed at an early age artistic taste and ability. He settled in 1828 at Lyons, where he produced a large number of medals and jetons, among which I may mention: Portrait-medal of Ludovic Penin, 1868; — Scientific Congress of Nismes, 1844 ; — Series of Jetons for Industrial Societies; — The Metric system exclusively adopted in France, 1840 ; — Vir...
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PERCIER, CHARLES
PERCIER, CHARLES (French). Architect, born at Paris, 22. August 1764, died there, 5. September 1838. The Louvre Museum preserves a number of drawings by this artist, who also designed some of the medals of the Napoleonic series. Marx, in Médailleurs modernes en France et a I'étranger, 1900, PI. IV, reproduces two of his designs for the medal commemorating the Capitulation of Spandau, Stettin, Magdeburg, and Custrin, one of which was adopted by Jeuffroy. Bibliography. — Chavignerie et Auvray, op....
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PERDOUX, EUGÉNE
PERDOUX, EUGÉNE (French). Son of Joseph P., Engraver at Versailles, and collaborator with Duplessis-Berteaux. E. P. was pupil of Léon Cogniat and David d'Angers. Many times medallist at Ecole des Beaux- Arts, author of many canvases admitted to the Salon, and of a Traité de dessin et de perspective. Removed to Limoges in 1844, and was Professor of design at the Lycée in that city. Produced a number of medallions (Gazette du centre, 26 Aug. 1894). One of these, an unsigned, uniface, 164 X 191 mm....
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