Leonello d’Este (Marquis of Ferrara, 1441-50), bronze medal by Pisanello, bust left, rev., a blindfolded lynx seated on a cushion, 66mm (Hill 28), old cast (taken from a pierced example), very fine with brown patina. The image of the blindfolded lynx is also found on medals by Amadio da Milano and Nicholaus and is an emblem of statecraft commented upon by Luke Syson in Pisanello Painter to the Renaissance Court, London, 2001, p. 122 – “an illustration … of the diplomatic art of selective vision …. The lynx was also reputed to have sight so keen it could see through walls, thus making light work of the blindfold”. Provenance: Luc Smolderen collection, Künker 286, 28 September 2016, lot 4838 part.

Estimate: GBP £600 - £800