sarcophagus
The tomb (or the sepulchre) in which the body of the Saviour was placed, was often changed into a Sarcophagus in paintings, especially in those representing the Christ’s death. In this new iconography, we recognize the kind of burial that was in use, since the Roman age, for important people, and that consisted of marble sarcophaguses sometimes sculpted on the outside. In the Middle Age representations of Christ in a sarcophagus had an additional meaning: the sarcophagus was often shaped as a baptismal pool (we can still notice this in ancient baptisteries). The death of Christ is then, such as Baptism, source of salvation.