• Author: Jacopo Cambi
• Date: 1336
• Collection: PAINTING
• Dimensions: 113 x 441 cm
• Inventory: Tessuti antichi n. 881

This embroidered antependium decorated the front of the main altar of the Church of Santa Maria Novella during major holidays. It is signed by the embroiderer Jacopo Cambi and is dated 1336, but the identity of the person who commissioned it is unknown.

Together with the altar cloth, signed by Gèri di Lapo, preserved in the collegiate Church of Santa Maria, Manresa (Catalonia), it is the only embroidered antependium that dates back to the 14th century, although it was added to in the 18th century. The main register features a loggia composed of trilobed pointed arches resting on twisted columns. Central to the composition is the image of the Coronation of the Virgin; at the sides, there are fourteen figures of Prophets and Saints, seven per side. On the bottom of each niche, there is an embroidered decorative motif referring to the identity of the saints represented: seashells for Saint James, lilies for Saint John the Baptist, protector of Florence, fishes for Saint Andrew and so on.

Along the upper edge, eleven scenes with Stories of the Virgin are interspersed with twelve saints inside niches.
The embroidery was carried out using the opus florentinum technique, which allows a large area of canvas to be adorned with a design and a chiaroscuro effect very similar to painting.

It is an exceptional work of art in terms of quality and design, in which the original compositional choice of associating the scene of the Coronation of the Virgin with a Marian narrative cycle in the upper register is also striking.

The design at the base of the embroidery was provided by a painter that more recent critics generally identify as Jacopo del Casentino.

Upper border: Stories from the Life of the Virgin, Two Prophets and The