Gold medal awarded to Firmin Didot by First Consul Napoléon Bonaparte
- 1800
Napoléon awarded this medal to the publisher Firmin Didot during the first industrial exhibition he sponsored to encourage French manufacturing, held at the Louvre in 1801. The medal represents a character with Phrygian cap (France) surrounded with different symbols: a plow for agriculture; a paddle for navigation; a compass for industry; and a caduceus for trade. It is engraved with the words “Encouragement and reward to the industry.”
Historical Provenance - Firmin Didot family collection