Octagonal tile in glazed terracotta in bas-relief depicting the Creation of Eve. 

On the left we see God the Father, wrapped in a robe of ample drapery, assisting Eve at centre as she rises from the body of Adam, lying below. Eve's arms reach around the Father as if in both need and embrace. In the background, to left and right of the figurative group. is a rugged landscape with two small shrubs, 

This tile was probably part of the decoration of a chest, and can be connected to a chest kept at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, decorated with three tiles, almost identical in material, size and style, depicting as many episodes in the story of Adam and Eve. The London museum attributes them to Ghiberti, however the pathos and the daring experimentation in glazing of terracotta (the first known case in the history of this technique, later reaching perfection with Luca Della Robbia and family), as well as the very choice of the clay material, lead us to think of the young Donatello. Donato, or an artist close to him, modelled the relief taking evident inspiration from the tile sculpted by Andrea Pisano and placed on the west side of Giotto's bell tower. The version here, however, is renewed by an accentuated naturalism, both in the forms and the affections expressed by the poses and features.

The biblical account of the creation of Eve in the book of Genesis: “So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.” We do not know the original placement of this work, whether in religious or profane context. If destined to adorn a wedding chest, the choice of the subject of the two ancestors has an evident nuptial meaning; if the destination were religious, the meaning would be more theological. In the Christian tradition, in fact, Eve is placed in parallel with the Virgin Mary: the first the fall of humanity, in the sin of offering the forbidden fruit to her companion; the second granted salvation to humanity, by welcoming the incarnation of Christ in her womb. Furthermore, Christian doctrine has seen a correspondence between the creation of Eve from Adam's side and the moment of the blood and water gushing from the side of the crucified Jesus, which - according to tradition - establishes the birth of the Church.