3 A Chopped-Of Head on a Golden Plate: Jan Mostaert’s Head of Saint John the Baptist on a Plate Surrounded by Angels Soetkin Vanhauwaert A chopped-of head on a golden plate. The eyes almost closed; the botom line of teeth visible in a half-open mouth; tears shining on both cheeks. Nine angels circle the head, mourning, full of sorrow, praying. Their wings almost cover the three medallions, scenes from the life of the deceased, and part of the late Gothic ornamental background of this painting. The Head of Saint John the Baptist on a Plate Surrounded by Angels (1525–50), atributed to Jan Mostaert, depicts the sinister ending of the life of St. John the Baptist (Figure 3.1). 1 According to the Gospels of St. Mathew and St. Mark, the saint was beheaded and his head presented on a plater to Salome, Herodias’s dancing daughter. This story was the source of the veneration of the head of John the Baptist and led eventually to the creation of an iconographic tradition around the caput in disco. This chapter will explore the popularity of this gruesome artistic motif— the dancer’s trophy, the decapitated head on a plater—and thereby contribute to the further understanding of this imagery of death and its religious importance in the late Middle Ages. It will become clear that the head on a plater can be seen as a Christological symbol, a typological link between the sacriice of the Precursor and the sacriice of Christ. In the case of Mostaert’s painting, this interpretation is strengthened by some interesting details. But before turning to the examination of the painting in question, I will focus on the phenomenon of the Johannesschüssel as such in order to create a beter understanding of the motif. 2 From Story to Object The story of the death of John the Baptist is told in the Gospels according to St. Mathew (Mt 14:1–12) and St. Mark (Mk 6:14–29). He was imprisoned