Head of St. John the Baptist

John the Baptist, imprisoned in Jerusalem for condemning King Herod’s marriage to his sister-in-law, was beheaded, as Herod’s stepdaughter Salome demanded. John’s gaunt face, his eyes and mouth slightly open and his abundant hair dissolving into the platter, evoke the saint’s tragic decapitation. Cast with a loop at the top of the charger to be hung on a wall, this medallion depicts John’s severed head dramatically, the implausible vertical display attesting to the missing body.