Nothing is known of the history of this work, which was donated to Palazzo Venezia by the Sestieri brothers in 1922, as an inscription under the base records. Contrary to that which is recorded in the ministerial catalogue, it does not depict Catherine of Alexandria but the Virgin Mary, who is surprised by the annunciation of the archangel Gabriel; she is intently reading a bright red book, open in her right hand while the other seems to shield herself, not believing herself worthy of God’s calling. She is wearing a red cinnabar tunic, edged in gold, covered with a long blue azurite mantle (FORS analysis of the ICVBC-CHR in Florence), which is also trimmed with gold, and has very long hair with a golden crown on top, which has been carved from the same piece of wood. Her red cheeks stand out against her pale face. The work is sculpted in the round and is also painted on the reverse; it is attributed to mid-15th century central Italy, but shows characteristics of the same period in southern Germany, between Swabia and Bavaria. Technical-scientific analysis carried out in 2009 by IVALSA-CNR in Florence identified the wood used as tilia (Tilia sp.).