Antonio di Puccio called Pisanello (c. 1394-1455), Gianfrancesco Gonzaga, as Captain General and First Marquess of Mantua (1433-1444), bell-metal medal, CAPIT MAXI ARMIGERORVM – PRIMVS MARCHIO MANTVE, bust left in tall hat with round brim; across field, IOHANES FRANCISCVS DE GONZAGA, rev., OPVS PISANI PICTORIS, the Marquess on horseback to left accompanied by a retreating mounted page; in the field before the Marquess is a ring-shaped doorknocker, 95 mm (Hill 20 (99.5-104mm); Armand I, 4, 11; Pollard 16 = Kress 2; Bargello 8; Cordellier 284; Syson/Gordon 2, p. 45, fig. 2.3; Warren, Wallace Collection, 20; Bonazzi 1), twice pierced, a very fine old cast with flaw on obverse filled with lead, with grey patina Provenance: John R. Gaines collection.The remarkable hat that Gianfrancesco wears is of Flemish design, rather similar to that worn in the Arnolfini Portrait, as well as in a number of Gothic tapestries made around 1425-50. The medal itself has been dated to around 1447, and is thus a posthumous issue; and the equestrian image of Gianfrancesco on the reverse is taken from an earlier Pisanello sketch of A Cavalcade (Paris, Louvre, inv. 2595 verso).

Estimate: GBP 1500 - 2500