The Harrowing of Hell

This 15th-century alabaster relief depicts Christ on the left, wearing a crown of thorns and holding a tall cross-staff, his right hand extended toward a group of nude figures huddled within the Jaws of Hell on the right. The Hellmouth is rendered as a literal, stylized monster's maw with teeth, from which several souls emerge with hands clasped in prayer or reaching toward the savior. The relief features soft, worn textures typical of alabaster, with remnants of gilding and polychromy visible in the crevices and on the figures' features.

The scene represents the 'Harrowing of Hell' or 'Anastasis,' a theological doctrine derived from the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus, which posits that Christ descended into the underworld between his crucifixion and resurrection to liberate the souls of the righteous.