A heraldic shield with elaborate mantling is silhouetted against a white background and rests on a tiled floor. It is framed by green pillars and red columns that support an elaborate mauve arch festooned with volutes and a central boss with a man’s head. Virtues standing on sculpted podiums flank the shield. To the left is the personification of Justice dressed in a green robe and holding scales and a sword. To the right is the virtue of Faith dressed in a blue robe and holding a burning candle and book. Above a red architrave an additional scene shows the Queen of Sheba approaching king Solomon who is seated on his lion throne on the left. Her elaborate retinue carries fruits, flowers, and coffers of gold and leads exotic animals such as camels, parrots, and monkeys. At the bottom of the panel a yellow and white inscription cartouche with scrollwork borders is flanked by musical angels.

The panel is apparently completely intact with excellent paint adhesion across all surfaces. Repair leads diminish the impact of the panel to some extent, especially in the complex narrative at the top. In comparison to other works by Lingg, the Princeton panel is particularly elaborate and beautifully painted.

Wolf (or Wolfgang) Grünwaldt was Ammeister of Strassburg in 1612. His arms are listed as per fess argent and gules, in chief three green trees (see Kindler von Knobloch, 1886, 103, fig. 156). Here, the arms are quite different.

The attributes of Justice were of long-standing tradition. The attributes of a candle and book for Faith were used from at least the mid sixteenth century. They appear in an Illustration of Petrarch's Triumphs dated 1534–1590 showing Faith overcoming sensual love (British Museum, Inv. no. 1869,0410.134). The print is attributed to Dirk Volkertsz Coornhert. In the narrative scene at the top of the Princeton panel, the Queen of Sheba, hearing of the wisdom of Solomon, pays him a visit (Matthew 12:42 and Luke 11:31). Solomon sits upon his fabled lion throne, a frequent image in Swiss glass. The image of the Judgment of Solomon (1 Kings 3:16–28) was a popular theme for magistrates.

The most important work of the Lingg workshop is the cycle of 115 panels for the cloister of the Carthusian monastery in Molsheim, some 27 km (18 miles) west of Strasbourg and a center of Counter-Reformation activity in the later 16th century. Only seven works have survived. The Princeton panel can be compared to the Arms of Johann Dieffenbach (?), about 1613 attributed to Lingg by Uta Bergmann (private collection; FR_365; Bergmann, 2014, vol. 2, pp. 889–890, cat. nr. 365). The general disposition of the architecture is similar, especially the relationship of the shield with its mantling and crest to the architectural frame. The musical angels flanking the inscription plate in both the Princeton and Strasbourg panels appear to be after Lingg’s workshop models. The panel also show many similarities with Lingg’s Arms of the Guild of Anchor Makers, dated 1604 (Musée Historique Strasbourg, 88.2006.0.9). The images of the virtues of Justice and Faith, including their pedestals, are almost identical to those in the Princeton panel.

Cited in:
Record of the Art Museum, 1963, p. 19.
Raguin, & Morgan, 1987, p. 88.