Carved panels were used to decorate both fixed woodwork (like panelled walls or fireplaces) and portable furniture (like chests or cupboards). A great variety of renaissance designs was used all over northern Europe often in conjunction with traditional linenfold ornament.

To make a panel, usually a single split (or riven) oak board was used, and the shallow carved ornament created using chisels and sometimes a plane. The back of the panel would be left undecorated, and the edges worked all round to form a uniform narrow tongue. These edges of the panels were held in grooves cut along the edges of an oak framework jointed together. This method, known as panelling, was relatively lightweight, but also durable since the panels, not needing to be fixed with nails, were unlikely to warp or split.

This panel was formerly in the collection of Emile Peyre (1824-1904), a notable Parisian collector of French medieval and renaissance artefacts. In 1895 the South Kensington Museum (renamed the V&A in 1900), bought over 200 pieces of furniture and woodwork from him, (as well as sculpture and metalwork), at a cost of £11,878. 16s. 9d. After the lengthy financial negotiations for the purchase were completed, Peyre presented as a gift, this and another panel to the Museum.