Clarice Cliff (née Machin) took in washing to supplement the family income, and they had seven children. Cliff was sent to a different school from her siblings, and this perhaps prompted her more independent approach to her career, and her non-standard life style by Stoke-on-Trent standards. After school Cliff would visit an aunt who was a hand painters at a local pottery company, and she also made models from papier-mâché at school. At the age of 13, Cliff started working in the pottery industry. Her first work was as a gilder, adding gold lines on ware of traditional design. Once she had
Clarice Orsini Clarice Orsini Clarice Orsini (1450–1488) was the daughter of Jacopo Orsini, and his wife and cousin Maddalena Orsini. She was the wife of Lorenzo de' Medici and mother of Pope Leo X. Clarice and Lorenzo married 4 June 1469, with a four-day celebration. The marriage was arranged by Lorenzo's mother Lucrezia Tornabuoni, who wanted her eldest son to marry a woman from a noble family to enhance the social status of the Medicis. Their marriage was unusual for Florence at the time in that they were nearly the same age. Clarice's dowry was 6,000 florins. The political nature of her