This is a plaster cast of the original marble bust of Pietro Mellini in the Museo Nazionale (Bargello) in Florence, made by Benedetto da Maiano in 1474 in Florence. The plaster cast is made by Oronzio Lelli in about 1885 in Florence, Italy. The sitter Pietro Mellini was a wealthy Florentine merchant who also commissioned from Benedetto the pulpit in S. Croce of which a cast is shown behind this bust (museum no. 1884-639) and a tabernacle in Assisi carved by the Maiano workshop.

Benedetto da Maiano (1442-1497) was a sculptor and wood-carver and the brother of Giuliano da Maiano. He was one of the most accomplished marble-carvers of the 15th century and the foremost sculptor in Florence of the generation following Bernardo Rossellino.

Plaster casts were especially sought after during the 19th century, when reproductions of great works of sculpture and architecture were thought crucial for the training of artists. A separating substance was applied to the surface of the work to be reproduced, and a plaster mould made from that. The mould would then be used to make any number of additional plaster copies. These were often sold to artists, and later in the century to art colleges for study purposes.