Panel

Object Type
In the 100 years following the Protestant Reformation of the mid-16th century, few stained-glass windows with images of people were produced for English churches. The medium was used almost solely for heraldic panels. These were commissioned by wealthy individuals to decorate their residences and to advertise their associations with the religious foundations they had patronised.

Materials & Making
By the 16th century true stained glass played a diminishing part in the production of coats of arms. Instead, white glass was painted with coloured enamel pigments. This highly-skilled work fell chiefly to Dutch and German immigrant artists. This panel is made predominantly of clear glass which has been painted with successive layers of brown enamel. The brown enamel has been scraped away in places to create white highlights. Silver stain, which turns yellow on firing, has also been used. The tones achieved - ranging from pale lemon to deep amber - vary according to the number of coats applied. This layering technique brings a striking three-dimensional quality to the border ornament.

Provenance
The shield bears the arms of the Pigot family, who in the 16th century lived at Doddington Hall in Lincolnshire. Whilst the provenance of this panel is uncertain, similar stained-glass panels exist in the mid-18th-century church of St Lawrence in Mereworth, Kent. Built in the Palladian style by John Fane, 7th Earl of Westmorland, St Lawrence was filled with old figural windows dating from the 16th to 18th centuries.