A 16TH CENTURY ENGLISH OR FLEMISH EMBROIDERED PANEL DEPICTING SAINT JOHN THE EVANGELIST BLESSING A CHALICE worked in coloured silks and gold thread, the standing saint holding a chalice in his left hand, a small dragon escaping from the chalice, flanked by two trees with a cloud above, and stylised green forms to the foreground, later mounted in an rectangular glazed frame, the panel 63cm high x 24cm wide The present panel depicts a scene from the Golden Legend by Jacobus de Voragine (1228-1298). It recounts how Saint John the Evangelist is given a poisoned chalice by a Pagan priest of Ephesus to test his faith in God, Saint John blesses the chalice and the poison escapes as a small dragon. He was then able to drink the poison without harm. Other depictions of this scene appear in paintings such as Alonso Cano's work now in the Louvre.