Along with Daniel Chester French, Augustus Saint-Gaudens was one of the major figures of post–Civil War nineteenth-century American sculpture. Although he was most famous for his larger public and private commissions, he also executed medals marking the centennial of George Washington’s inauguration, in 1889, and the World’s Columbian Exposition, in 1893.

This work, apparently executed as a favor to his niece, honors prominent members of the Women’s Auxiliary of the Massachusetts Civil Service Reform Association; only two examples are known, and this is the only one that was actually awarded (the name of the recipient, Marjie Ruth Mallery, is inscribed on the reverse). The detailed modeling and lettering was finished by the artist’s assistant, Frances Grimes, and the plaster model was cast by the Gorham Company in Providence, Rhode Island.

Saint-Gaudens executed this medal later in his life, and it has a classical simplicity, openness, and dignity that are very different from his earlier work in this format.