ARNOLFO DI CAMBIO
(b. ca. 1245, Colle di Valdelse, d. ca. 1310, Firenze)

Ciborium (detail)

1285
Marble, with polychromatic incrustations
San Paolo fuori le Mura, Rome

Four free-standing figures - Sts Paul, Peter, Timothy and Benedict - occupy the niches at the corners, and in the spandrels between are shown the Abbot Bartholomeus offering a model of the ciborium to St Paul (front), the Sacrifices of Cain and Abel (side), two prophets (back), The temptation of Eve and the Admonishment of Adam (side). Above, flying angels appear to support the oculi of the gables. Inside the ciborium four angels float around the boss of the vault and a further four at the corners hold censers and a candlestick.

The picture shows the side of the ciborium with the Temptation of Eve and the Admonishment of Adam in the spandrel.