An Italian marble altar front, late 18th century, Sicily

with a Marian monogram on the central cartouche and dedicatory inscription.

The inscription on this altar frontal dedicates a Church of the Carmelite Order, refers to a priest and two patrons with typically Sicilian names, and is dated 1783.  The church of Santa Maria del Carmine in Messina was destroyed in an earthquake on the 5th of February 1783 and a new church in Baroque style was built to replace it; the replacement was destroyed in another devastating earthquake on December 28, 1908.  The monogram of an intertwined A and M on the central cartouche denotes "Auspice Maria" ("Under the protection of Mary").