Sienese Altar Depicting The Descent Between Pope Alexander VI (borgia) And Pope Pius III (piccolomini) On 22 September 1503.

Altar (67x37 cm) composed of precious applications on a cusped structure in carved wood with corbels and niches, containing 12 depictions of the apostles in carved bone. At the top, in the center, the depiction of Pope Alexander VI (Rodrigo Borgia) with the papal tiara and the key of St. Peter. Underneath, an inscription in encrypted Latin that is still undeciphered. Four oval cabochons in agate and carnelian delimit a rectangular painting on parchment depicting the Madonna and Child  Between Four Saints, datable to the very first 500'. The parchment at the bottom bears the inscription "Mons in quobeneplacitum est, Deo habitare in eo" (New Jerusalem at Monte Varallo) and in the center the Renaissance coat of arms of the Piccolomini, who gave birth to Pope Pius III. This Altarolo, rich in symbolism, sublimates and exalts the passage of the papal descendants in its sacredness, which took place on 22 September 1503 between Pope Alexander IV who died on 18 August 1503 and his successor Pope Pius III, identifiable by the coat of arms belonging to the Todeschini-Piccolomini family of Pope Pius III.
A very refined historical object from the Grand Museum. Provenance, ancient family of the province of Siena.