The collection of portraits on cerulean paper by Ottavio Leoni (Rome 1578-1630) preserved in the civic collections of Genoa comprises 50 sheets and is certainly of great importance in terms of quality and chronological variety: these are, in fact, drawings of a high standard of execution, whose creation can be traced throughout the master's career as a portraitist, between the end of the 16th century and the first thirty years of the 17th century. The range of characters documented in the portraits is also very varied: a vivid cross-section of Roman society at the beginning of the 17th century. Historical and artistic research and the inscriptions on the sheets (some autographed, others from collections, and sometimes partially faded and cut) have in some cases made it possible to name the figures “photographed” by Leoni: in the Genoese collection, among the many possible examples, there are portraits of nobles, such as Vittoria Caetani dell'Aquila d'Aragona, the Marquis Paris Pinelli and Alessandro VII Sforza, Duke of Segni; portraits of princes and princesses, such as Maria Felice Peretti or the Prince of Castiglione; cardinals, such as Monsignor Gerolamo Grimaldi, Cardinal of Trinità dei Monti; but also figures from different social backgrounds, prominent in Rome at the time, such as the composer and organist Paolo Quagliati. There are also faces that have remained ‘anonymous’, both aristocrats and humble commoners: examples include the sheets with ‘Portraits of a man and a woman’ or those with ‘A monk and a child’, depicted individually and then arranged in pairs within a single blue paper passe-partout with an elegant gold border by a collector between the 18th and 19th centuries. The sheets in Genoa belong to different periods of Ottavio Leoni's career: there are older portraits, dating back to the end of the 16th century and characterised by more marked and continuous contours, more insistent, outlined only in black pencil (an example is a “Portrait of a Young Man”); others in which black pencil strokes are accompanied by white chalk, as in the case of the famous “Portrait of Vincenzo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua”; Finally, there are others dating back to the last phase of the artist's career, between the second and third decades of the 17th century, in which there is a more nuanced use of red and black pencils and chalk, with more delicate transitions and soft coloured shading: examples from this period include the aforementioned ‘Portrait of the Prince of Castiglione’ and two ‘Portraits of a Man and a Woman’, mounted in a single passe-partout, in which the use of red pencil is highly characteristic. Some of the drawings in the Palazzo Rosso Drawings and Prints Cabinet – all of which came into the collection through Marcello Durazzo's bequest to the civic library in 1848 - bear the inscription “Ulisse Aldrovandi 1799”, an interesting indication of their previous provenance from the collections of Count Ulisse Aldrovandi, patron, collector and amateur painter of the late 18th century, of the Aldrovandi Marescotti family of Bologna. Aldrovandi, an academic of fine arts together with his brother Carlo Filippo, was in contact with artists and writers in his city and had established a sort of academy in his own home, where he had gathered paintings - particularly Nordic ones - but also drawings, prints and art books. Portrait of the Prince of Castiglione.

The vase, which can be linked to Ming Dynasty oriental models in terms of morphology and decoration, bears a mark that was probably an attempt to counterfeit the well-known ‘lantern’ mark used by the Grosso factory in Albisola and later by the Chiodo factory in Savona.

A spool-shaped albarello with slightly rounded ends and a cylindrical middle section. The monochrome blue decoration, as with other vases from the Pescio workshop, includes plant and animal motifs. Among the latter is a horse, which is not usually found in this Chinese-inspired repertoire.

Cylindrical jar with light blue majolica decoration on a white background.

The subject depicted on the front of the vase also appears, with some variations, on other pieces from the same set. The object has a similar shape to the vase with inventory number C. 752, which is part of the same set. The tap is missing. The decoration on the front includes a depiction of a bearded figure in oriental dress, identifiable as a doctor or apothecary, flanked by two cherubs. On the back is a painting of a warrior on horseback.

The scene depicted on the front has been interpreted as ‘Joseph reconciles with his brothers’, given that other vases from the same collection (P. 268, P. 266, P. 276, P. 270, P. 277, P. 278) depict other episodes from the character's story. Baluster vase with a narrowing at the bottom, where the pharmaceutical inscription is located, and a bulge at the top. Pair of lion-head handles set on relief masks; a third mask, on the front, houses the bronze tap. The upper part of the vase is painted with a biblical scene depicting two male figures prostrating themselves before three standing figures, one of whom is holding a wand. On the reverse side, a couple is seated against a landscape background, flanked by a cherub holding a branch with fruit.

Plate with ring foot. The decoration, which covers the entire surface without distinction between the rim and the foot, features a warrior on horseback dressed in ancient garb and carrying a crusader banner, set against a landscape background.

Quadrangular bottle with a short cylindrical neck. The polychrome decoration includes orientalising plant motifs taken from the late Ming repertoire, with a gazelle on one side and birds and turreted buildings on each of the other three sides.

A moulded plate, probably used as a water basin. In the centre is a cherub riding a dolphin, a scene taken from 16th-century prints. There are similarities with other contemporary silverware items.