Although its design is entirely secular, and includes the depiction of mermaids, the size and shape of this hanging suggests that it may have been assembled from different decorated fabrics for use as an altar frontal. Ornate frontals such as this would be visible to the congregation during a Christian church service. This frontal is made from panels of lacis--embroidered hand-knotted net--set into borders of linen embroidered in red silk in three different designs. It has been pieced together from a number of fragments, noticible when examined closely, but the visual effect would have been striking from a distance.