Bosom of Abraham Trinity

In a composition showing the "Throne of Mercy" type of the Trinity, a group of tiny figures are seen in a cloth or "napkin" held or supported between the hands of God the Father.

There were earlier images, common in the great French Gothic cathedrals of the 13th century, illustrating Abraham himself with small souls represented as children in his cloak, or held in a napkin in the same way as in the alabasters.

[8] In addition, the theme combines elements of the Western Virgin of Mercy and the Russian Pokrov icons, though these are not necessarily direct influences.

English alabasters were exported across Europe and have survived in relatively large numbers on the Continent, especially France, while other publicly displayed artistic media from the period have mostly been destroyed since the Protestant Reformation.

The English alabaster industry is a rather unlikely place for such a bold iconographic innovation in contemporary terms, since it concentrated on turning out large numbers of standard figures and sets of panels that closely followed more high-status forms of art in their iconography.