This panel and four others of the same materials and with the same imagery were given to the Department of Textiles by Madame Tussaud's Limited, Marylebone Road, NW1 on 14th September 1967. The curator's intention was 'to keep them available for loan to any provincial museums which might want to exhibit this type of material.' (King to Chapman, 14.09.1967) They were in better condition than anything comparable in the collection at the time. Lady Chapman in the Archives and Records section at Madame Tussaud's was happy to have found a home for them as 'They are really rather nasty and I could not see any possibility of ever finding a use for them, yet at the same time they were interesting, and it would have been a great pity if they had ever been thrown out as mere junk.'(Chapman to King, 19.09.1967) The panels had come to light in 1965 due to rebuilding operations, during which Madame Tussaud's had been making 'copious inventories of "relics" in the wardrobe and elsewhere'. Other finds included Chinese robes, an Arab woven scarf and some 18th and 19th century women's dress (Chapman to Wingfield Digby, 12.09.1965). Madame Tussaud's sent these items to the Department for the purposes of identification. Donald King identified the panels thus: 'The embroideries which you sent into the Museum for an opinion are the apparels of a dalmatic. They are Spanish work of the early 17th century and were most probably intended for use at Requiem Masses.'(King to Chapman, 17.08.1965) In the light of this identification, the company believed that they had probably been purchased a number of years previously 'when the late Mr John Tussaud was considering making a tableau of the Spanish Inquisition', an idea that was abandoned (Chapman to King, 25.08.1965). (RP 65/2003) Historical significance: This panel is significant as an example of the impact of the Council of Trent (1545-63) on the design of church ornaments. While the Council's impact on sculpture and painting is well covered in existing literature on the plastic arts, its interpretation in textiles has largely remained hidden within specialist textile histories. This divorce of textiles from the larger picture is unfortunate as priestly appearance was part of the ceremonial around those other more durable objects, and part of the experience of the faithful. It seems likely that panels from dalmatics may have survived intact longer than other parts of the dalmatic which may have become damaged during church services or been recycled at a later date. Similarly, the wear and tear on chalice covers was probably less severe than on other church textiles. The dried wax on the surface of the panel is an important component of its history, probably revealing the panel's use in the vicinity of candles, a crucial component of church services, and a serious danger to the well-being of the any materials with which they came into contact. Attribution of date and place based on strength of Counter-Reformation in Spain and similarity with surviving examples in Segovia Cathedral and Murcia. Original attribution by Donald King in 1967 when he identified the object for Madame Tussaud's - he gave no justification for his attribution. Attribution note: Vestments tend to be made to commission, even if their motifs are often taken from a standard vocabulary of motifs.