Predella of Roudnice - SS Andrew, John the Evangelist and Peter

This panel painting, the oldest preserved in Bohemia, used to be known as the Predella of Roudnice. The name was derived from an allegation that the painting was originally part of an altar base (predella). Instead it may have formed the side part of a chest-shaped reliquary richly decorated with paintings which held relics of the Apostles inside, seen by traces left from the metal grips on the rear of the panel. The size and high level of the artistic quality of this rather French influenced painted decoration proves the extraordinary significance of the reliquary. The paintnig might have been commissioned by the Prague bishop Jan IV of Dražice (+ 1343).