Translation quality assessment has been marred by impressionistic and often paradoxical judgments based on elusive aesthetics. This study seeks to develop an empirical model for QA based on objective parametres of textual typology, formal correspondence, thematic coherence, reference cohesion, pragmatic equivalence and lexico-syntactic properties. This eclectic model is tested for its viability by applying it to the textual analysis of an evocative text (an advertisement) with the aim of highlighting points of correspondence and divergence.