Arms of husband and wife are set within an elaborate baroque architectural frame. The shields are surmounted by barred helms with rich mantling of the heraldic colors. Their crests are silhouetted against white and yellow ribboned grounds and they rest on an orange and black checkered floor. At the sides, framed by columns, are the name saints of the donors. To the left is Balthazar, one of the Three Magi, who carries a scepter and a covered cup. He wears a gold mantle with an ermine collar over a purple robe and blue boots with a yellow trim. To the right is Mary Jacobea, also known as Mary Cleophas, who carries an unguent jar. She wears a white wimple, blue blouse, white skirt and purple mantle. A red and blue entablature at the top supports an open balustrade. In the center is a boss with a head wearing a turban. The lower third of the panel is occupied by the inscription panel. Angels flank a rectangular text on uncolored glass within a three-dimensional decorative border of blue embellished with yellow scrolls and a red boss.

Between 1662 and 1669, a series of panels was apparently created for the Lucerne Rathaus by Jakob Geilinger the Elder (1611–1677), a prominent painter in mid-seventeenth century Lucerne (Lehmann, 1942, pp. 200–210, figs. 285, 286; Habegger, 2001, pp. 103–106). Despite the repeated format, they are lively and varied. The donors are honored by the display of lineage, and at the same time invoke piety through the presence of patron saints. The inscription names the man as a member of the Inneren Rhats (Inner Council) of the Praiseworthy City of Lucerne and a number of the families appear to be interrelated. Melchior Balthasar (1596–1661) was a merchant in transportation, wholesaling, and the official wine trade. His first marriage was to Anna Maria von Castanea with whom he had seven children. In 1647 he married Maria Jakobea III Segesser von Baldegg, then aged fifty. He apparently was a patron of a country church St. Jost in Blatten, Malters, five kilometers west of Lucerne, which he also embellished with a heraldic shield.

Flanking the shields stand the presenters. On the left is King Balthazar with a gold-rayed nimbus, crown, scepter and covered cup. Melchior is traditionally presented as the eldest of the Three Magi, who knelt first before the Christ Child and offered him the gift of gold (Kehrer, 1908, p. 66; quoting Collectana et flores, Basileae, 1563, vol. 3, p. 649; Réau, 1955–59, II/2, pp. 236–55, which cites the tradition of a gift of insense; Herder Lexikon, 1968–76, 6, cols. 97–98). The Magi were highly venerated in Germanic custom. Their relics were believed to have been discovered by St. Helena, the mother of Constantine, who took them to Constantinople, from which they traveled to Milan. After the defeat of Milan by Frederick Barbarossa, the relics of the Magi were transferred to Cologne by Archbishop Reinhold von Dassel in 1164. The great shrine of the Three Kings produced by Nicolas of Verdun between 1198 and 1206 is venerated to this day. On the right stands St. Mary Jacobea with a gold rayed nimbus and ointment jar. Mary Jacobea is another name for Mary Cleophas, one of the Virgin Mary’s half-sisters. She formed part of the "Holy Kindred" based on the belief that St. Anne, the mother of the Virgin, had two additional marriages. In some accounts, Mary Cleophas is credited with four sons who became Christ’s disciples, James the Less, Joseph the Just, Simon, and Jude (Réau, 1955–59, II/2, pp. 141–46; Herder Lexikon, 1968–76, 7, col. 515; Golden Legend, Ryan, 1993, vol. II, p. 150). Her four boys are depicted with her in the east window, dated 1470, Holy Trinity Church Goodramgate, York.

Cited in:
LACMA Quarterly, 1945, pp. 5–10.
Normile, 1946, pp. 43–44.
Hayward, 1989, p. 81.
Raguin, 2024, vol. 1, pp. 246–53.