Here we see St Mary Magdalene kneeling, with her ointment-pot open in front of her. The carver made the piece from a single piece of oak. It is pierced by a number of nail holes for fixing, with some of the nails still in place. He has stamped the hand mark for Antwerp into the sloping base, below the ointment-pot, near the front edge of the relief.
The figure would have originally been brightly coloured. Mary Magdalene's dress was gold, with an elaborately painted blue border. Her shirt was originally white. The maker applied a solid layer of white over a gilded ground, then scratched through with a sharp tool to reveal the underlying gold. Her plaited hair was gold, as was her head covering. The ointment-pot was gold with red ointment , and the sloping ground was painted in green glaze over gold. The figure originally came from an altarpiece dedicated to the Passion of Christ. It would have been included in the scene showing either the Lamentation or the Entombment of Christ scene. This was usually shown to the right of the Crucifixion. The style of the figure is similar to that used on altarpieces of the 1540s.