This magnificent religious panel, dating from the second half of the 17th to the 18th century (1650–1775), likely originated in Spain, Italy, or France. It depicts the Annunciation through a sophisticated combination of fine painting and elaborate needlework. The central scene—showing the Virgin Mary visited by the Archangel Gabriel beneath a radiant Holy Spirit dove—is painted on silk and integrated into a hand-woven brocade background interwoven with metallic threads.
The surrounding Rococo-style scrollwork is a masterclass in period embellishment, featuring silver and gilt sequins, silk embroidery, and narrow strips of pleated silver sheet. The sequins were individually crafted from silver rings flattened into disks. Measuring 43 inches by 22 inches (109 cm x 56 cm), the panel was likely re-backed in the 19th century, at which time approximately 20% of the embroidery was reworked. While it shows authentic markers of its great age—including tarnishing, scattered sequin loss, deterioration of the dove's surface, and minor splitting in the brocade—the colors remain remarkably vivid.