Josef Šejnost

The Wenceslas Ducat

The Windmill house at Křemešník

He was born on 30 May 1878, in the village of Těšenov (part of Horní Cerekev) in the Kingdom of Bohemia, Austria-Hungary.[2] After a local education, from around 1892 he studied ceramics at an art college in Bechyně before joining a ceramics factory at Rakovník.

In 1901, he returned to academia to study at the School of Applied Arts in Prague, studying under Stanislav Sucharda and Jan Preisler. From this stage his focus became small sculptures and commemorative medals.[3]

He set up studio in Prague. His work included commissions from the Prague Mint and Paris Mint.

From 1924 to1926, he was editor of the "Dílo" art magazine.

He had a long-running project (1929 to 1939) on a hill of Křemešník where he intended to establish a coin museum in an old windmill, greatly extended to accommodate the proposal. The project was designed by his architect friend Kamil Hilbert.

He died in Prague on 9 February 1941.[4] Much of his medal work is highly collectible.[5]

Originally buried in Prague, he was reinterred in the cemetery at Pelhřimov in the 21st century to be close to his home town. There is a museum in that town to his memory.

• Prague Town Hall: medallion heads to František Soukup, Alois Rašín, Antonín Švehla, Jiří Stříbrný and Vavro Šrobár (1918)
• The St. Wenceslas Ducat for the Prague Mint (1923)
• Commemorative medal to Olympic winner Bedřich Šupčík (1924)
• Gallery of Czech sport personalities to celebrate the centenary of Sokol (1929)
• Plaque to commemorate 1000 years since the foundation of Prague (1929)
• Gravestone of Joseph R. Mark (1930)
• Plaque at the birthplace of Bedřich Smetana in Litomyšl
• Plaque at the birthplace of Max Švabinský in Kroměříž
• Plaque of Jan Hus
• Plaque of Vojtěch Hynais
• Plaque of Karel Havlíček Borovský in Humpolec
• Bust of Pavol Orzsag-Hviezdoslav, National Museum in Prague
• Bear statues on approach to the castle at Nové Město nad Metují

• The Problem of Progress in Sculpture (1924)

In 1918, aged 40, he married the writer and journalist, Marta Kalinová. They later lived in Větrný Zámek.

Their son Zdeněk Šejnost was also a sculptor, he continued the "Windmill House" project after his father's death.

His younger son Dimitri Šejnost acquired the Windmill House.