Depicting the head and shoulders of an unidentified Old Testament King or royal saint, this panel would originally have been part of a complete figure, placed high up in the clerestory windows of Soissons Cathedral, France. Begun in the late twelfth century and brought into use by 1212, the choir at Soissons was a key building in the evolution of the High Gothic architectural style and one of the very first cathedrals to include the giant figural stained glass windows so characteristic of these great churches. Many of the windows were removed in the nineteenth century and then found their way into museum collections.