The saint is shown kneeling at the right, gazing upwards. Her hands help support a dish, held by a standing female companion at the left, containing two severed heads. On the floor at the left is a viol. The iconography of this work is somewhat unusual but is typical of Tiarini's rethinking of conventional subjects. St Cecilia was an early Christian virgin martyr and traditionally the patroness of music. She vowed herself to chastity and persuaded her husband, Valerius, to do likewise. He and his brother Tiburtius became Christians and were executed; their heads are presumably those in the dish.

This work is now darkened and damaged, but is probably an autograph work by Tiarini, which may date from around 1620.