Pio (Emilia), wife of Antonio da Montefeltro

Emilia Pio da Montefeltro, (? – 1528)

(c. 1450/1460-1499) Adriano di Giovanni de’ Maestri of Florence, called Adriano Fiorentino, sculptor and bronze-caster, was perhaps a pupil of Bertoldo; (based on his strong traces of that teacher’s influence). Died 1499.

Obverse:  AEMYLIA PIA FELTRIA:  Bust facing right; hair in coif at back terminating in a long pendent club and confined by narrow fillet passing across forehead; dress cut square in front; pearl necklace. Inscr. between circles of large pearls.

Reverse:  CASTIS | CINERIBVS: A tall pyramid surmounted by an urn. Inscr. between pearled circles as on obv.

This seems, as is remarked by Armand to refer to the death of Emilia; but that did not happen until 1528. If the word castis is used in a general sense (= sanctis), it may refer to the death of Emilia’s husband in 1500, by which she was deeply stricken (Ady, Baldassare Castiglione, i, p. 88). Thus the reverse seem to refer to a time subsequent to the death of Adriano. If made later than the obverse, which is supposed to be alluded to by Elisabetta’s letter of 1495, the work was done with singular sympathy and understanding of the style of the obverse.