This tapestry forms part of a set of six tapestries representing incidents from the life of Diogenes, first woven at Mortlake. It is not known when and by whom the set was designed. Overall, the production can be divided into two groups, one with borders with hollowed-out pillars hung with swags, and one with large acanthus leaves with flowers. It appears that the latter can be attributed to an early 18th Century weaving at Mortlake, while the second group including this tapestry, which has a simplified version of the acanthus border, probably date from the later 18th Century.
The story shows Diogenes, an extremely austere cynic philosopher of the 4th Century BC, writing on the lintel of a ruined house belonging to a wicked Eunuch. The inscription reads 'Let nothing evil enter here', to which Diogenes adds 'Then which way will the Master of the house come in?'.
The scene, which is here reversed, shows in its original version an extensive ruin landscape to the right. A complete panel is illustrated in H.C. Marillier, English Tapestries of the Eighteenth Century, London, 1930, plate 15b, while a cut version is illustrated in M. Swain, Tapestries and Textiles at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, London, 1988, p. 15, illus. d.