Scenes from the Life of the Virgin (left wing)

This panel is the left wing of a portable triptych showing three scenes from the life of the Virgin: the Annunciation (top), the Nativity combined with the washing of the infant Christ and the Annunciation to the Shepherds (middle), and the Adoration of the Magi (bottom). The right wing (also in the Metropolitan Museum) depicts the Coronation of the Virgin and six saints. The saints - three males and three females - would have been chosen by the person for whom the triptych was painted. They are Sts John the Baptist, Stephen (or Lawrence), and Peter, and Sts Mary Magdalen, Catherine of Alexandria, and an unidentified female saint. The centre panel of the triptych, probably depicting a Madonna and Child, is not identified.

Except for minor variations, the narrative scenes derive from the predella panels of Duccio's Maestà, which was completed in 1311. Among the most important differences are the elaborate throne that replaces Duccio's architectural setting in the Annunciation and the more elaborate throne the anonymous master gives the Virgin in the Adoration of the Magi.