Rationale from Pommersfelden

This parchment leaf is a copy of a textile sign of honour which formed part of the ritual dress of popes and bishops. A similar breast plate is mentioned in the Old Testament as belonging to the official dress of Jewish high priests. The Bamberg Rationale is based on a surviving 11th-century liturgical vestment kept in the Diocesan Museum at Bamberg, but differs from the earlier object in some respects.

The drawing renders only the rear part of the Rationale. In the centre, Christ is enthroned as judge of the world above the lamb with the open book and the seven seals as described in the Revelation of John. The symbols of the four evangelists surround the scene. John, the author of the Apocalypse, can be seen on the left, pointing at the lamb; on the right, the archangel Michael descends. The busts of six apostles are placed at the sides (the other six would have been depicted on the lost front section of the Rationale). Below, Emperor Henry II and Kunigunde, the patrons of the bishopric, have been added; they are missing on the textile.
The high-quality drawing was created by a painter from Bohemia, who probably left Prague in the course of the Hussite wars and moved to Franconia.