Plaque

This plaque must have been used for devotional purposes. The inner circle shows Jesus Christ crucified on a vine, tended by God the Father and the Virgin Mary, with the images of the twelve Apostles (Christ's first followers). This image conveys the idea of mankind's redemption through Christ. It is also, simultaneously, a symbolic representation of the Christian church, according to St John's Gospel in the Bible.

The prototype of this and other terracotta (baked clay) reliefs was probably a metal or limestone example. The reliefs, which are probably from the Rhineland in Germany, have been dated to about 1430 to 1440. This is the only one that has been enhanced by the addition of colours (polychromed).