In Christian architecture a transenna is an openwork screen of stone or metal enclosing a shrine. These transenna elements were found in Rome; the posts were said to have been excavated on the Coelian Hill and may have originally formed part of the transenna of the Church of San Saba.

The Lombards were an ancient Germanic-speaking tribe that settled in Italy after 568. Their artistic tradition was originally centered on small objects of personal adornment like buckles and brooches. After occupying Italy, the Lombards found themselves in contact with large-scale sculpture of classical and early Christian origin that, by the end of the 700s, they had learned to adopt and imitate, as seen here.