Vatican Museums

This large slab of white marble, carved on three sides and decorated in bas-relief, was probably part of a liturgical fence or partition; that is, a system for delimitating the spaces used in churches to separate the areas pertaining to the various categories of the faithful and in particular the areas reserved to the clergy. The design and attention to decorative aspects, far from the naturalism of Greek-Roman art, are typical of the Carolingian period (around the eighth to ninth centuries). Two partially preserved crosses are recognisable; framed by arches, they are flanked at the bottom by fierce animals and surrounded by birds in flight. The building for which the pluteus was intended is unknown: indeed, as shown also by the reworkings of the slab bearing at the back the coat of arms of Pope Nicholas V (1447-1455), it was reused in the paving of the Room of the Signatura, from which it was removed in 1909 and transferred to the Pius-Christian Museum.