The pax, meaning "peace," was a tablet that the priest and faithful kissed before taking Communion. This example depicts the Crucifixion with the Virgin, St. John, Longinus, and Stephaton. A sword, placed like a stream of blood flowing from Christ's wound, pierces Mary's breast. This iconographic motif developed out of meditations of Rhenish Dominican mystics on the sorrow of the Virgin at the death of her son. The copper-gilt frame was probably added in the late 15th century.
