One one side the Virgin is depicted in the manner of Platytera (lit. wider than the Heavens), enthroned, with Christ sitting in her knees. She is flanked by the inscription ΜΡ-ΘV (Mother of God). The other side shows the Empress Irene, wearing imperial vestments and holding a sceptre in her right hand. To the left and right reads the inscription “Irene, venerable Empress, Doukaina, Palaeologos”.

The seal belongs to the second wife of the emperor Andronicus II Palaeologos (1282-1328). Yolanda Montferrat married Andronicus II after the death of his first wife, Anna of Hungary, and was renamed Irene. She is associated with Thessaloniki, not only because she was descented from the short-lived kingdom of Thessalonica, which was founded by the forces of the Four Crusade after occupying the city, but also because she lived her last days and died there in 1317.