Lot 185: [ ITALIAN MEDALS ]

PASTORINO DE' PASTORINI (c. 1508-1592) Eleonora of Toledo (1553-1576), wife of Pietro de' Medici, uniface bronze memorial medal, 1576, LEONORA TOLLEDO MEDICI, bust right wearing dress with low-cut bodice, and pearl necklace, her hair elaborately dressed; incised 1576 P on truncation, 52.6mm (Armand -; Toderi/Vannel 1982; Hill, 'Not in Armand' 194), pierced, a few marks, an extremely fine contemporary cast in high relief with brown patina

Provenance: Numismatica Genevensis 5, 2-3 December 2008, lot 759. The medal dates to the year that Pastorino returned to Florence, at which time various Medici commissions were undertaken. The sitter was the niece of Eleonora of Toledo, the wife of Cosimo I de' Medici with whom she was confused in the Bargello catalogue. The elder Eleonora had died in 1562.