A large Faenza albarello, last quarter fifteenth century

the slightly waisted cylindrical body painted with a brightly coloured laurel wreath medallion enclosing a profile portrait  of a noblewoman, her hair drawn into a fine net and leaving a thick outward roll, a rope of jewellery across her ample bosom, above a drug label inscribed s.de.suco.acetose, against a ground of tightly scrolling foliage and flowers in blue, the foot and shoulders with line and foliate borders

The features and jewels of the lady portrayed are similar to those of two other examples in the Damiron collection, Lyons.

According to Giuliana Gardelli (Italika, Maiolica Italiani del Rinascimento, Saggi e Studi, Faenza 1999, pp. 338-339), the figure depicted might be nonna Strozzi, who married Bernardo di Nicola Barbagiani in1489, when a double medal was struck by Niccolo Spinelli. This piece, and the Damiron albarelli, might therefore possibly have formed form part of a wedding service for the couple. This hypothesis would also of course suggest an attribution to Tuscany rather than Faenza