Leather panels were used to cover walls as an alternative to wooden panelling or textile hangings. Luxurious effects could be achieved with rich colours and highly patterned surfaces. Often the decoration of these hangings echoed the design of other furnishings in a room, and tied together an interior decorative scheme. The bold scrolls and stylised foliage of this panel are similar to textile designs of the early 18th century, while the geometric patterns that fill the scrolls resemble carved decoration found on gilded French furniture of the same period.

It is uncertain exactly how this panel was made. Traditionally, wet leather was pressed onto a raised wooden mould to create an embossed surface. In 1628, however, a similar process using a heated metal plate was patented in the Netherlands. This technique, which was widely copied, made it possible to produce large numbers of identical, finely detailed panels. Even sharper detail could be achieved on a thin leather, such as calf skin, which was probably used for this panel. Its crisp embossed surface suggests that a metal plate was used in this panel's manufacture.

Although areas of the panel appear to be gilded, the precious metal used to create this effect is actually silver. A thin silver foil was applied to the panel and then coated with a layer of yellow varnish to look like gold leaf.