Gold placed under item of furniture in nativity scene, maybe (7)
I believe the answer is:
tableau
'nativity scene maybe' is the definition.
(a tableau might depict the nativity)
'gold placed under item of furniture' is the wordplay.
'gold' becomes 'Au' (Au is the chemical symbol for gold).
'placed under' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'item of furniture' becomes 'table' (table is a type of furniture item).
'au' after 'table' is 'TABLEAU'.
'in' is the link.
(Other definitions for tableau that I've seen before include "Frozen stage scene" , "Group of people arranged as for a painting say" , "dramatic picture" , "Group of models representing a scene" , "Painting - spectacle" .)