PALA. – ancona (v.), a term more properly used to designate compositions in carved wood or glazed terracotta, the term p. serves to define a large altarpiece enclosed within a frame (one should recall the P. d'oro in S. Marco in Venice, a marvellous work of Byzantine goldsmithery). The predella (v.) and is crowned above by a lunette (v. DOSSALE; RETABLO).
BIBL.: I. Braun, Der christl. Altar, II, Munich 1924, pp. 363–344; M. Righetti, Man. di storia liturgica, I, 2nd ed., Milan 1950, pp. 421–24.