Silver cross with enamel inserts by Antonio del Pollaiolo and Betto di Francesco Betti. Third quarter of the 15th century. This large silver cross was commissioned by the Cloth Merchants’ Guild to hold a splinter of the True Cross. The Cross was traditionally displayed on the silver altar in the Baptistery on 24 June, the feast of Saint John the Baptist. Its detailed images are sequenced from bottom to top: the prophecy foreshadowed in the Old Testament with Moses as a sign of the covenant between God and men, on to the Gospels and the preaching of John the Baptist, and finally the sacrifice of Christ, dying on the cross for the redemption of humanity. On the pedestal Saint John is shown baptizing Christ, surrounded by the Church Fathers, who affirmed his teachings and Christian orthodoxy through their writings. John the Baptist seated among angels is depicted on the haft, which is shaped like a small temple, echoing the lantern on Brunelleschi’s dome. Above, on two curved branches flanking the Cross itself, are the Mourners: the Virgin Mary and Saint John the Evangelist. At the base of the cross the walls of Jerusalem ring Calvary, where Christ was crucified, surmounted by Adam’s skull, symbol of the human condition before the Redemption. Plaques on the cross depict God the Father, Mary Magdalene, the Mourners and a pelican tearing her breast with her beak, a symbol of Christ's sacrifice.