diff --git a/src/main/java/com/github/dockerjava/api/model/RestartPolicy.java b/src/main/java/com/github/dockerjava/api/model/RestartPolicy.java
index 936a5b819..5cdcb70bc 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/github/dockerjava/api/model/RestartPolicy.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/github/dockerjava/api/model/RestartPolicy.java
@@ -9,10 +9,17 @@
 /**
  * Container restart policy
  * 
- *   no – Do not restart the container if it dies. (default)
- *   on-failure – Restart the container if it exits with a non-zero exit code.
- *       Can also accept an optional maximum restart count (e.g. on-failure:5).
- *   always – Always restart the container no matter what exit code is returned.
+ * <dl>
+ *   <dt>no</dt>
+ *   <dd>Do not restart the container if it dies. (default)</dd>
+ *   
+ *   <dt>on-failure</dt>
+ *   <dd>Restart the container if it exits with a non-zero exit code.
+ *       Can also accept an optional maximum restart count (e.g. on-failure:5).<dd>
+ *   
+ *   <dt>always</dt>
+ *   <dd>Always restart the container no matter what exit code is returned.<dd>
+ * </dl>
  *
  * @author marcus
  *
@@ -23,7 +30,7 @@ public class RestartPolicy {
 	private int maximumRetryCount = 0;
 
 	@JsonProperty("Name")
-	private String name = "no";
+	private String name = "";
 
 	public RestartPolicy() {
 	}
@@ -33,15 +40,27 @@ private RestartPolicy(int maximumRetryCount, String name) {
 		this.maximumRetryCount = maximumRetryCount;
 		this.name = name;
 	}
-	
+
+	/**
+	 * Do not restart the container if it dies. (default)
+	 */
 	public static RestartPolicy noRestart() {
 		return new RestartPolicy();
 	}
-	
+
+	/**
+	 * Always restart the container no matter what exit code is returned.
+	 */
 	public static RestartPolicy alwaysRestart() {
 		return new RestartPolicy(0, "always");
 	}
-	
+
+	/**
+	 * Restart the container if it exits with a non-zero exit code.
+	 * 
+	 * @param maximumRetryCount the maximum number of restarts.
+	 *        Set to <code>0</code> for unlimited retries.
+	 */
 	public static RestartPolicy onFailureRestart(int maximumRetryCount) {
 		return new RestartPolicy(maximumRetryCount, "on-failure");
 	}
@@ -54,6 +73,47 @@ public String getName() {
 		return name;
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Parses a textual restart polixy specification (as used by the Docker CLI) 
+	 * to a {@link RestartPolicy}.
+	 * 
+	 * @param serialized the specification, e.g. <code>on-failure:2</code>
+	 * @return a {@link RestartPolicy} matching the specification
+	 * @throws IllegalArgumentException if the specification cannot be parsed
+	 */
+	public static RestartPolicy parse(String serialized) throws IllegalArgumentException {
+		try {
+			String[] parts = serialized.split(":");
+			String name = parts[0];
+			if ("no".equals(name))
+				return noRestart();
+			if ("always".equals(name))
+				return alwaysRestart();
+			if ("on-failure".equals(name)) {
+				int count = 0;
+				if (parts.length == 2) {
+					count = Integer.parseInt(parts[1]);
+				}
+				return onFailureRestart(count);
+			}
+			throw new IllegalArgumentException();
+		} catch (Exception e) {
+			throw new IllegalArgumentException("Error parsing RestartPolicy '" + serialized + "'");
+		}
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Returns a string representation of this {@link RestartPolicy}.
+	 * The format is <code>name[:count]</code>, like the argument in {@link #parse(String)}.
+	 * 
+	 * @return a string representation of this {@link RestartPolicy}
+	 */
+	@Override
+	public String toString() {
+		String result = name.isEmpty() ? "no" : name;
+		return maximumRetryCount > 0 ? result + ":" + maximumRetryCount : result;
+	}
+
 	@Override
 	public boolean equals(Object obj) {
 		if (obj instanceof RestartPolicy) {
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/github/dockerjava/api/model/RestartPolicy_ParsingTest.java b/src/test/java/com/github/dockerjava/api/model/RestartPolicy_ParsingTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..04823db24
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/java/com/github/dockerjava/api/model/RestartPolicy_ParsingTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+package com.github.dockerjava.api.model;
+
+import static org.testng.Assert.assertEquals;
+
+import org.testng.annotations.Test;
+
+public class RestartPolicy_ParsingTest {
+
+	@Test
+	public void noRestart() throws Exception {
+		assertEquals(RestartPolicy.parse("no"), RestartPolicy.noRestart());
+	}
+	
+	@Test
+	public void alwaysRestart() throws Exception {
+		assertEquals(RestartPolicy.parse("always"), RestartPolicy.alwaysRestart());
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	public void onFailureRestart() throws Exception {
+		assertEquals(RestartPolicy.parse("on-failure"), RestartPolicy.onFailureRestart(0));
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	public void onFailureRestartWithCount() throws Exception {
+		assertEquals(RestartPolicy.parse("on-failure:2"), RestartPolicy.onFailureRestart(2));
+	}
+
+	@Test(expectedExceptions = IllegalArgumentException.class,
+			expectedExceptionsMessageRegExp = "Error parsing RestartPolicy 'nonsense'")
+	public void illegalSyntax() throws Exception {
+		RestartPolicy.parse("nonsense");
+	}
+
+	@Test(expectedExceptions = IllegalArgumentException.class,
+			expectedExceptionsMessageRegExp = "Error parsing RestartPolicy 'on-failure:X'")
+	public void illegalRetryCount() throws Exception {
+		RestartPolicy.parse("on-failure:X");
+	}
+}
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/github/dockerjava/api/model/RestartPolicy_SerializingTest.java b/src/test/java/com/github/dockerjava/api/model/RestartPolicy_SerializingTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7b13a3958
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/java/com/github/dockerjava/api/model/RestartPolicy_SerializingTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+package com.github.dockerjava.api.model;
+
+import static org.testng.Assert.assertEquals;
+
+import org.testng.annotations.Test;
+
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
+
+/**
+ * Compares serialization results of various {@link RestartPolicy}s with
+ * what Docker (as of 1.3.3) actually sends when executing 
+ * <code>docker run --restart xxx</code>.
+ */
+public class RestartPolicy_SerializingTest {
+	private final ObjectMapper objectMapper = new ObjectMapper();
+
+	@Test  // --restart no
+	public void noRestart() throws Exception {
+		String json = objectMapper.writeValueAsString(RestartPolicy.noRestart());
+		assertEquals(json, "{\"MaximumRetryCount\":0,\"Name\":\"\"}");
+	}
+	
+	@Test  // --restart always
+	public void alwaysRestart() throws Exception {
+		String json = objectMapper.writeValueAsString(RestartPolicy.alwaysRestart());
+		assertEquals(json, "{\"MaximumRetryCount\":0,\"Name\":\"always\"}");
+	}
+
+	@Test  // --restart on-failure
+	public void onFailureRestart() throws Exception {
+		String json = objectMapper.writeValueAsString(RestartPolicy.onFailureRestart(0));
+		assertEquals(json, "{\"MaximumRetryCount\":0,\"Name\":\"on-failure\"}");
+	}
+	
+	@Test  // --restart on-failure:2
+	public void onFailureRestartWithCount() throws Exception {
+		String json = objectMapper.writeValueAsString(RestartPolicy.onFailureRestart(2));
+		assertEquals(json, "{\"MaximumRetryCount\":2,\"Name\":\"on-failure\"}");
+	}
+	
+}
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/github/dockerjava/api/model/RestartPolicy_toStringTest.java b/src/test/java/com/github/dockerjava/api/model/RestartPolicy_toStringTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a52441d63
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/java/com/github/dockerjava/api/model/RestartPolicy_toStringTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+package com.github.dockerjava.api.model;
+
+import static org.testng.Assert.assertEquals;
+
+import org.testng.annotations.DataProvider;
+import org.testng.annotations.Test;
+
+public class RestartPolicy_toStringTest {
+
+	@DataProvider(name = "input")
+	public Object[][] restartPolicies() {
+		return new Object[][] { 
+				{ "no" },
+				{ "always" },
+				{ "on-failure" },
+				{ "on-failure:2" }
+				};
+	}
+
+	@Test(dataProvider = "input")
+	public void serializationWithoutCount(String policy) throws Exception {
+		assertEquals(RestartPolicy.parse(policy).toString(), policy);
+	}
+
+}