Nave Nuestro Señor del Entierro altar, The Arrest of Christ

This nocturnal scene depicts the Apostle Simon Peter cutting off the ear of Malchus, a servant of the high Jewish priest Caiaphas, in an attempt to stymie the Arrest of Christ. In the background are Roman soldiers who accompanied the Jewish delegation to the Garden of Gethsemane at the base of the Mount of Olives where Jesus and his disciples' presence had been betrayed to the authorities by the Apostle Judas of Iscariot.

In Colonial Mexico Malchus' ear is sometimes carved along the shaft of atrial crosses as one of the Passion Symbols.