The carving of alabaster, mostly quarried in Tutbury and Chellaston near Nottingham, took on industrial proportions in England between the middle of the 14th and the early 16th centuries. The market for altarpieces and smaller devotional images was a large one. It included not only religious foundations but also the merchant classes. Many hundreds of English alabasters were exported, some as far afield as Iceland and Santiago de Compostela in north-west Spain.
Alabaster - a form of gypsum - is a comparatively soft material and is therefore easy to carve. It can also be polished. Its natural colour was especially useful for the representation of faces and flesh, which would normally remain unpainted.

The saint has a spade-shaped beard and is looking to his left. He is wading through water, his right foot raised. Both feet project through the water. On his left arm he bears the Christ Child, who is turned to his right, looking down at the saint. Kneeling on his right knee on the saint's left arm, the Child blesses him with his right hand and holds an orb in his left. In his right hand the saint holds a curved staff which bears two polyhedral leaves or buds at the top. He wears a flat hat with an upturned brim and a cloak draped from the left which leaves his legs uncovered. The Child wears a gown under a cloak fastened by a brooch.

There is a hole in the top of the orb, suggesting it formerly held a cross. The fingers of the Christ Child's right hand are damaged. Almost no paint remains. There are traces of green paint decorated with the usual daisy pattern at the bottom of the carving, beneath the water; there are traces of red paint on the inside of the saint's cloak. The back of the figure has been scratched with the numerals 'IIIV.' There are four lead-plugged holes. The bottom has been cut away.