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The 250th Anniversary Medal
Designs by John Maine
Among the drawings for the medal produced by
John Maine were these designs for its obverse (front) and reverse,
and also a Braille version of the obverse. The square, the circle
and the triangle of the British Museum 250th anniversary medal
suggest the simple geometry underpinning the culturally diverse
objects within the collections of the
Museum.
On one side, the
implied cubic form encircled by the border of the medal evokes an
object within the museum's care; such objects have been at
the core of the museum's activities for 250 years. The
geometry here is built on the square and the diagonal, with ninety
and forty degrees predominating. The oblique forms are illusory,
for the square itself is frontal, framing the square hole in the
centre.
The underlying
pattern of the other side is a grid of equilateral triangles,
within which a circle is squared. The design presents a further
allusion, to the spectacular roof of the Great Court and thereby to
the present and future of the Museum.