Panel

Object Type
Lace-making developed in England during the 16th century in response to the growth in personal wealth and to changes in fashionable dress. Needle lace, still then seen as a branch of embroidery, was made in professional workshops in London. But through the teaching of embroidery as a domestic skill with needle lace stitches in the repertoire, lace was also made at home, for the decoration of household linen, clothing and other objects. This panel may have been intended for the side of a casket.

Design & Designing
The most popular subjects for the needlework pictures and panels to which this lace is closely related, were scenes from the Old Testament and classical mythology, or the representation in human form of the virtues and the senses, the elements and the seasons. Figures might be copied directly from their original pictorial sources, but were often updated with fashionable clothes and hairstyles.

Subject Depicted
The lace panel tells a the story of the Judgement of King Solomon, from the Book of Kings in the Old Testament of the Bible. Two women came to the King, both claiming to be the mother of a baby boy they brought before him. In his wisdom Solomon gave the order for the baby to be cut in half, thus letting the true mother be revealed as the one who would rather give up her child than see him harmed.