Plaque with the Head of Saint John the Baptist on a Charger
School of Nottingham British
Not on view
John the Baptist, who recognized Christ as the "the Lamb of God,… who taketh away the sin of the world,"(John 1:23) was beheaded on Herod's orders. This relief depicts the relic of John's head, which was kept in Amiens Cathedral. Doubling as a halo, the charger stands against a flowering meadow, an evocation of Paradise. Other English alabaster carvings with this subject survive as the centerpieces of triptychs. The well-preserved original paint of this relief suggests that it too was originally part of such an ensemble.
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