This saint comes from an altarpiece painted by Ugolino di Nerio, probably for a church in Florence or Siena. The figure turns inward to face the altarpiece’s central image, likely a Madonna and Child. Saint Mary Magdalene bears an ivory pyxis, a type of box used throughout the Mediterranean since antiquity to contain jewelry and cosmetics. Here it alludes to Mary Magdalene’s anointing of Christ’s body.