Saint Lawrence

A scene of judgement occupies the centre of the north side. A judge is enthroned before a tower of his palace. He holds a sceptre in his raised hand. Behind him a figure projects from the top of another tower. He is apparently blowing a horn – perhaps to announce the judgment? Below the north-east corner a blessing figure with a halo is standing – perhaps the Saint who has been sentenced? In the north-west corner the convicted man stands in the posture of an orant before his judge; in his left hand he holds a disk inscribed with a cross. Before him, on the west side, an executioner blows into the embers of the fire of the stake which is located on the following side. This symmetrically laid-out south side is completely devoted to the representation of the Saint’s martyrdom: the body of the condemned man lies on a grate, below which the flames lick upwards, fanned with bellows by a further executioner. Two angels descend from heaven, one with a flabellum, the other with incense-burner. Both liturgical objects are combined into a decorative motif on the console block. The representation of the Saint’s execution by being burnt alive on a grate bears no inscription, raising the question whether it is the martyrdom of Lawrence or that of Vincent that is represented. The cross motif on the disk held up by the saint could however refer to Lawrence, who was a deacon in the Early Church. According to the legend, the emperor Decius demanded that he hand over the treasure of the church, to which the Saint answered that the poor loved by Christ were the true treasure. This answer could be symbolized by the cross on the disk that the Saint holds up in the representation. The “table” of torture and the liturgycal objects are symbols of Christ. The martyrdom of the Saint is an imitation (imitatio Christi) of the final sacrifice of Christ that is renewed with every Mass.

Christ deacon incense-buner flabellum tower Vincent Lawrence judge death fire