Plaque with the Head of Saint John the Baptist on a Charger

School of Nottingham

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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.

Medieval Art and The Cloisters

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Museum's collection of medieval and Byzantine art is among the most comprehensive in the world. Displayed in both The Met Fifth Avenue and in the Museum's branch in northern Manhattan, The Met Cloisters, the collection encompasses the art of the Mediterranean and Europe from the fall of Rome in the fourth century to the beginning of the Renaissance in the early sixteenth century. It also includes pre-medieval European works of art created during the Bronze Age and early Iron Age.

Metropolitan Museum of Art