North Italian, second half 15th century

Christie's New York, 28 January 1998, lot 103;
Bruno Cooper Works of Art, Suffolk, UK

This type of profile portrait was popular in Italy in the 15th century, both in sculpture and in painting. While the sitter is unidentified, the name Sperandio Savelli (1425-1504), a sculptor and a prolific portrait medalist at the court of Ferrara, has been suggested as the artist due to the similarity between this work and his marble reliefs made to decorate the Porta del Barco, the entrance to a large hunting preserve north of Ferrara, in the collections of the Palazzina Marfisa d'Este and in the Louvre.