The hood depicts Christ, surrounded by cherubs, crowning the Virgin, who kneels at his feet. At their sides are the Blessed Bernardo Tolomei and the Blessed Patrizio Patrizi, founders of the Olivetan Order. The composition is enclosed by two candelabra with festoons. Below two angels support a coat of arms set in a wreath.
The parts, made separately, were composed shortly after their manufacture, probably in Florence in the course of the 1480s.
John II (identified by the princely coat of arms), son of King Alfonso V of Portugal, may have ordered this and other liturgical paraments for the Florentine church of San Miniato al Monte, which contained the tomb of his uncle, Jacopo of Lusitania, Cardinal of Portugal.