Lot 367: MATTEO DE' PASTI (c. 1420-1468) Isotta degli Atti,

MATTEO DE' PASTI (c. 1420-1468) Isotta degli Atti, mistress and then wife of Sigismondo Malatesta, bronze medal, dated 1446, D ISOTTAE ARIMINENSI, her bust right with hair elaborately held in place by ribbons and a jewel, rev., the Malatesta elephant, dated M.CCCC.XLVI below, 83.0mm (Hill 187; Armand I, 21, 19; Pollard 33 = Kress 63; Scher 13; Bargello 49), pierced, a very fine contemporary cast with brown patina"

Ex Spink, 9 October 1997, lot 897. The date 1446 refers to the year in which Sigismondo took Isotta as his mistress but the medal itself was cast in the 1450s (from 1453 documents begin to refer to Isotta as 'de Malatestis').