The richness, depth and brightness of the colours in the Daddi tabernacle are an indication of the quality of the pigments that have been used, not to mention the expense. The intense blue of the Virgin's cloak (fig.1) in the central panel indicates that the pigment ultramarine has been used, whereas the darker blue of her cloak (fig.2) in the scenes on the inner wings shows the use of the relatively cheaper blue pigment azurite, which darkens with age.
Azurite has also been mixed with lead-tin yellow and lead white to form the green colour for the cloak of the kneeling magus (fig.3) in the Adoration of the Magi, as well as for the Centurion's cloak in the Crucifixion scene. The bright red of Mary Magdalen's robe (fig.4) in the Crucifixion scene indicates the use of vermilion; the richer red of the Virgin's robe (fig.5) in the central panel is also vermilion but it has been covered with a translucent red lake glaze.
The faces of the angels (fig.6) in the Nativity scene have lost much of their flesh tone revealing the underpainting of green earth pigment.
