This is a design for an unidentified object. The curious shape is puzzling, it could possibly be related to a book binding or for a case to protect official documents. The projecting shadows, however, at the edges suggest part of the design was intended to be in relief. This would appear to exclude the possibility that it was intended for an embroidered standard. The delicacy of the detail would exclude stone carving, although the background pattern recalls some of the decoration at the Château de Blois. The salamander appears on a panel decorating a chair in the Louvre, and it is possible that this design was intended for a carved section of a piece of furniture.
The ornament, such as the interlaced borders, is similar to that on Saint Porchair ceramics. The factory flourished for a brief period between 1530 and 1560, and specialised in curiously shaped wares often decorated with heraldic emblems, notably those of Anne de Montmorency, King Henri II and Diane de Poitiers. The technique of decorating the pieces was unusual; once they had been shaped, moulds would be impressed onto the surface of the clay and some parts of the design painted black.
The precise drawing of the coat-of-arms clearly indicates a connection with King Francis I. On the right are the arms of the ancestor of the King, Louis, duc d'Orleans (1371-1407), son of King Charles V, who married Valentine, daughter of Giovanni Galeazzo Visconti, Duke of Milan which secured for the French crown a claim to Milan. On the left are the arms of the King's cousin and wife, Claude, younger daughter of King Louis XII and his wife Anne, daughter of Francis II, Duc de Bretagne and widow of King Charles VIII of France