Christ before Pilate and Caiaphas

This is a relief from the east side of the Passion Pulpit with Christ before Pilate on the left, and Christ before Caiaphas on the right.

The representation of Christ before Pilate is separated from the adjacent scene by a historiated column like those of Trajan and Marcus Aurelius. A two-headed servant, a Janus figure, offers a bowl to Pilate to wash the guilt from his hands. With this acute psychological device, Donatello visualized the inner conflict of Pilate: to yield either to his wife’s plea for clemency or his own desire for expediency.