The panel is dominated by the image of Solomon’s judgment in the quarrel between two mothers, one of whose children is dead (1 Kings 3:16–28). Solomon sits on a raised throne flanked by lions with the two women before him. A throng of retainers surround the throne. The scene is set in an oval surrounded by an elaborate blue frame with large red bosses at the sides. Columns with a spiral pattern and acanthus capitals flank the oval. The inscription panel below is framed by a yellow border and flanked by two coats of arms. At the top of the oval is a light blue cartouche carrying a rhymed couplet that identifies the scene. The upper segment of the panel displays a center architectural element in red and green. To the left is the scene of Solomon receiving the Queen of Sheba and to the right, Solomon kneels before an altar carrying an idol.

The panel appears to be intact. Minor paint loss seems confined to the dedication plate.

The family name Kämpfen is recorded in the canton of Valais (haute vallée de Conches; haute vallée du Rhone).
The central image may depend on a sketch attributed to Daniel Lindtmayer the Younger of Schaffhausen. Dated 1586, the panel shows the scene flanked by Justice and Hope and the arms of Daniel Lindtmayer and Werner Kübler the Elder below (Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Kunstbibliothek; Inv. Nr. Hdz01575; Hasler, 2010, fig. 103). The disposition of Solomon on his throne with the two women before him is based on the illustrated Bible by Johann Fischart and Tobias Stimmer (Neue künstliche Figuren biblischer Historien, Basel, 1579, reprint Munich, 1880, p. 85). The localization of the female donor from a family of Berne and that of the husband from Valais, a neighbor-canton of Berne, strongly suggests a Bernese origin for the execution of the panel. However, Lindtmayer and other artists produced variants on this theme, offering other models that might have been used by the Bernese glasspainter.

The panel appears to offer lessons to the beholder beyond simply the praise of Solomon as a model for good judicial conduct. We can perceive an anti-feminist warning. At the top Solomon is seen receiving a gift of flowers from a woman kneeling before him. This is presumably the Queen of Sheba. However, on the right, he kneels in front of an altar, and a young woman stands in back of him. On the altar is a figure of a man kneeling and holding a large shield. The Book of Kings refers at length to Solomon’s idolatry, describing how he offered sacrifices to pagan gods, here shown as the idol with the shield. “And when he was now old, his heart was turned away by women to follow strange gods: and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father” (1 Kings 11:4). The text continues to explain that he built temples for various religions in order to please his many foreign wives. “And he did in this manner for all his wives that were strangers, who burnt incense, and offered sacrifice to their gods” (1 Kings 11:8). God, of course, was not pleased. One can compare an even more extensive warning in a panel dated 1605. The Arms of Ludwig von Erlach, flanked by the virtues of Temperance and Prudence, contrast four images of female seduction at top and bottom (SZ_29; Reding-Haus Collection, Schwyz). In the upper right, Solomon kneels before an altar that carries a similar image of a masculine deity holding a shield.

Cited in:
Hayward, Kummer-Rothenhäusler, & Raguin, 1987, p. 66.
Hayward, Kummer-Rothenhäusler, & Raguin, 1989, p. 311.