This Blessing Christ is the surviving upper portion of a sculpture created by Tino di Camaino between 1320 and 1324, originally part of a tabernacle positioned above the South Door of the Baptistery. It belonged to a sculptural group depicting the Baptism of Christ, which also included St. John the Baptist, who was certainly once depicted in the act of baptizing. However, only the fragment of his head remains, now displayed alongside. The group was likely enriched by the figure of an angel, symmetrically placed on the opposite side of Christ from the Baptist, and by the representation of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove descending from heaven at the center.

Christ is depicted unclothed, as he is about to immerse himself in the Jordan River, and he raises his right hand in a gesture of blessing those crossing the threshold beneath him. Tino gave him a solemn expression—both austere and noble—characterized by a very thin body and a face framed by a beard and long, finely carved flowing hair.

The three sculptural groups created by Tino to adorn the Baptistery’s three doors—this one, the group of the Theological Virtues, and the group depicting the Preaching of the Baptist—were removed in the sixteenth century and replaced by the works of Danti, Rustici, and Sansovino, which are now displayed in the Hall of Paradise.