This important mosaic, set within a richly chased and gilt-bronze frame by Francesco Giardoni (1692–1757), may be compared to a pair of mosaics executed by Pietro Paolo Cristofari (1685–1743), director of the Mosaic Workshop of St. Peter’s in the Vatican, now preserved at the Galería de las Colecciones Reales. The Aranjuez mosaics were presented in 1738 as a diplomatic gift from Pope Clement XII to Maria Amalia of Saxony and Charles of Bourbon, the future Charles III. The depiction of Mary Magdalene, marked by great simplicity, contrasts with the elaborate gilt-bronze frame, whose succession of friezes surmounted by a pediment adorned with a shell is characteristic of Francesco Giardoni’s work.