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This work represents one of the first independent portrait busts made in Europe since antiquity, reflecting Mino da Fiesole's reinvention of the portrait bust as an artistic type, first in Florence and then elsewhere.
A Latin inscription carved on the underside identifies the subject and artist: "Astorgio Manfredi II, lord of Faenza, 42 years old, 1455, the work of Nino." Astorgio by this time had been ruler of Faenza for seven years and a military commander for almost 25. He is immortalized with starkly unidealized realism, his power conveyed by a brocaded mantle over field armour consisting of a chain-mail shirt and metal breast plate fastened with a worn leather strap.
Mino used the pattern of the sitter's chain-mail armour to frame and accentuate the face, which exaggerates the lifelike qualities of the features.
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