King Melchior Sailing to the Holy Land

A small fleet accompanies one of the three kings who, according to Christian tradition, brought gifts to the infant Jesus. King Melchior sits enthroned in the stern of a sailing ship, his robes and crown decorated with gold leaf. A fifteenth-century hunting party and two monks appear in the foreground, perhaps to make this scriptural scene more relevant to a fifteenth-century audience. The image ends abruptly on the left side; the panel was cut down at some point after it was removed from its original location.