Most Gothic funerary inscriptions date from the 13th century. However, this kind of plaque reached its peak in the 14th century. Applied to the interior walls or private funeral chapels of medieval churches, they are distinguished by their iconographic figures in bas-relief, lending the pieces an archaic feeling.

The protective presence of the Virgin (or of the crucified Christ) is frequently witnessed by the patron himself. Produced by gothic sculptors from a Coimbra workshop, they are of a typology hardly known in Portugal.