Tabernacle with Angels

Mino da Fiesole made the marble tabernacle in the third quarter of the fifteenth century. According to a record from 1677, the tabernacle had been placed in a Benedictine convent in Florence (Santissima Annunziata alle Murate e Santa Caterina). It was moved to its present location in the Basilica di Santa Croce in 1815. Set within an architectural frame ending in a lunette, the wall tabernacle is decorated with four angels adoring the Holy Sacrament. The Latin transcription also points to the Eucharistic sacrament and the function of the tabernacle: HIC EST PANIS VIVVS Q DECELO DESCENDIT (Here is the Living Bread which descends from Heaven) O SALVTARIS HOSTIA (O Host of Salvation). The work is also signed by the artist: OPUS MINI.