The Entombment

In the pictureAbove the gold ground rises a gray-green rocky mountain cut in terraces like steps, and below it Christ's body lies in a shroud on a gray-blue sarcophagus carved with a pattern of square panels. From the right, a woman presses her face to his head, and a woman in a red hood and a bearded old man support the body. At front left, a figure in green bends to wrap the feet. From the two upper corners, two angels in red fly in clutching their faces. Paint has flaked off in places, exposing the white ground at the middle and lower edge of the sarcophagus. Remnants of a red border band survive here and there along the edges.

BackgroundLaying Christ in the tomb is the last episode of the Passion story. This painter, whose name has not come down and who is therefore called the "Master of Forlì," worked in the Romagna region of northeastern Italy in the first half of the 14th century, and the museum's record dates the work to about 1300–10. It is thought to have been part of a small altarpiece dividing the Passion into scenes, together with The Flagellation by the same painter. The stacked terraces of rock and the grieving angels appear to be carried over from Byzantine icons. It measures 20.3×13cm. It is painted in tempera on wood with a gold ground.

Puzzle tipIt divides into gold, gray-green rock, red and green clothing, and the gray-blue sarcophagus. Set up the bottom frame first with the square-panel pieces of the sarcophagus front, then fill in the figures one by one using the several round gold halos as references. Stack the rocks upward following the direction of the terrace edges, and close the top with the angel pieces in the two corners. The white patches where paint has flaked off are markers that show position. The gray shroud on the sarcophagus runs horizontally, so fit it in one row with Christ's body. 48 pieces is about right.