The Harrowing of Hell

The sculpture is carved from alabaster in a high relief, depicting Christ at the bottom left with a cruciform staff, reaching into the gaping, toothy maw of a Leviathan-like beast that occupies the upper left portion of the frame. Inside the beast's jaws, several small, nude figures—representing the souls of the righteous—emerge with hands clasped in prayer or raised in adoration toward Christ. Christ himself is shown with a bearded face, wearing long flowing robes, and his physical gesture toward the creature suggests a forceful intervention into the underworld to rescue the trapped spirits.

This piece illustrates the 'Harrowing of Hell' (descensus Christi ad inferos), a theological concept rooted in 1 Peter 3:19–20 and detailed in the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus, where Christ descends into the underworld to liberate the righteous souls following his crucifixion.