The skull, rendered in anamorphic perspective, another invention of the Early Renaissance, is meant to be a visual puzzle as the viewer must approach the painting from high on the right side, or low on the left side, to see the form as an accurate rendering of a human skull. The most notable and famous of Holbein's symbols in the work is the distorted skull which is placed in the bottom centre of the composition. The anamorphic skull as restored in 1998, viewed here at an oblique angle The work has been described as 'one of the most staggeringly impressive portraits in Renaissance art.' Anamorphic skull The map is referred to as the Ambassadors' Globe due to its popularly known appearance in the painting. The terrestrial globe on the lower shelf repeats a portion of a cartographically imaginative map created in possibly 1530 and of unknown origin. For others, if the lute's broken string suggests the interruption of religious harmony, the Lutheran hymnal, open on facing pages reproducing a song on the Commandments (Law) and one on the Holy Spirit (Grace) may suggest their being in 'harmony' with each other.

The commonly accepted symbol of discord, a lute with a broken string, is included next to a hymnbook in Martin Luther's translation, suggesting strife between scholars and the clergy.

The conflicts between secular and religious authorities are here represented by Jean de Dinteville, a landowner, and Georges de Selve, the Bishop of Lavaur. In contrast, other scholars have suggested the painting contains overtones of religious strife.

Skull music art notes