The book describes the descent of the Messiah (Mashiach) and the tree is the depiction in art of the ancestors of Jesus Christ.

According to Luke's Gospel, chapter 3, Jesus is traced back, via Nathan to David and then on to "Adam, which was [the son] of God.".

[2] The Tree of Jesse (Ρίζα του Ιεσσαί) has appeared numerous times in Greek Italian Byzantine art and it depicts the ancestral Davidic line of Jesus Christ.

One of the earliest known sculpted versions of the Tree of Jesse was completed by Italian sculptor Lorenzo Maitani in the 14th century for Orvieto Cathedral Umbria, Italy.

The icon features the ancestral Davidic line of Jesus Christ and is the pictorial representation of the former Kings of Israel.

The next row below features two figures, on the left Uzziah (Ὀζίας) is seated across from Hezekiah (Εζεκίας) to our right.

The position of the Madonna and Child is the traditional Our Lady of the Sign also known as Platitera and in Italian Nostra Signora del Segno.