cessary to distinguish between the shoot as an attribute and the complex image of the "Stem of Jesse" or "Tree of Jesse." Beginning around the year 1000, the shoot as an attribute was often placed in the hand of the Virgin, less frequently in the hand of the Son, and sometimes in the hand of Isaiah or the hands of the ancestors of Christ. The shoot was the symbol of Christ's human descent. The concepts of the flower and the shoot also merge in their various forms and always refer to the whole prophecy. In some works the shoot is portrayed as a long leaf-like stem; a short, scepter-like shaft with a flower; and later as a rose or flower signifying Christ. The shoot may also be represented as a flowering staff because of the blossoms of Aaron's rod, a symbol of divine election and one of the relics preserved in the Ark of the Covenant. This was early equated with the stem of Jesse.
There are three pictorial groups representing aspects of the Tree of Jesse through different motifs which may or may not be present. In the first of these, Jesse is seen alone with the tree growing out of his body and with the spirit resting on the flowers in th
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