A Painted Wood Panel that Once Covered an Account Book

A painted wood panel preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and dated 1343 once covered an account book compiled by the biccherna of Siena, a committee who served as administrators and treasurers of the commune. 

"The scene at the top shows three of the five committee members, all of whose names are listed in the inscription below. The carmarlingo, or secretary, wearing the white robes of a Cistercian monk, counts a bag of money before two officers with record books. The painted book cover belongs to a long tradition of Sienese civic commissions. For some 500 years beginning in 1258, the commune hired local painters to decorate the covers of the financial books at the end of each fiscal term" (http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/10.203.3, accessed 12-03-2013).