Relief with the Annunciation

Unknown

ca. 1180–1200 · Carrara marble inlaid with serpentine (verde di Prato) · The Cloisters

This relief is one of seven panels from a pulpit in the church of San Piero Scheraggio in Florence, which was dismantled sometime between 1410 and 1755. In medieval Italy, pulpits were used for the reading of the Gospels and the Epistles and were located on the south side of the choir. Here, the Virgin and the archangel Gabriel stand in separate niches under a city wall. The fluid treatment of the drapery, the form of the figures, and the combination of narrative reliefs with a background of inlaid serpentine are characteristic of Florentine sculpture around 1200.

Artist

Unknown

Date

ca. 1180–1200

Medium

Carrara marble inlaid with serpentine (verde di Prato)

Culture

Italian

Department

The Cloisters

Credit line

The Cloisters Collection, 1960