This window and its neighbour (114b) are perhaps the most intractable of all the windows in Poitiers Cathedral; not so much as a consequence of Huguenot iconoclasm but because of their obscure iconography. The absence of any nimbed figures here except for Christ in panel 04 argues against it being hagiographic. The scene of a man handing over a pair of large keys in the topmost panels has led some to assume this relates to the Life of St Peter, opening with the donatio clavis - yet even the most cursory examination of panels 13-14 should make it obvious that this is not Christ handing over the keys to Heaven but a secular nobleman handing his keys to a servant. In secular iconography, the giving of keys typically denotes the handing over of responsibility for the management of one's household, or some similar role (q.v. the appointment of Lubin as cellerer in bay 45 at Chartres) This detail, together with some elements in the neighbouring window, lead me to suspect that both windows illustrate Christ's Parables. In particular I think this one relates to the Parable of the Unjust Steward (Luke 16:1-12), partly because one or two of the panels seem to fit that story quite well - and partly because the patristic author St Hilary of Poitiers wrote a well known homily on the parable, which would have increased its profile to a local audience. Nevertheless, much about this window is mysterious and may remain so. It could be interesting to explore whether any later authors (and I'm thinking particularly about the 12th century circle of Gilbert of Poitiers) wrote any commentaries on the Parables that might shed some light on the problem.

After the initial scene of keys being handed over come seven panels with the same basic structure (a nice visual example of the rhetorical device of amplificatio). In each we find a man in a red skull cap, usually seated (presumably the steward), who converses with a standing male figure, depicted differently in each case (some of his master's debtors?). One of these men has an open sack of corn - the others have no distinctive attributes. These panels may represent a rather prolix depiction of Luke 16:5-7, where the wily steward discounts each man's debt, an explanation which also could also fit panel 05, where a man holds out a scroll which could be a tenant's accounts. If panel 04 represents Christ recounting his parable (much like the famous 'visual incipit' in the Good Samaritan window at Chartres), then this only leaves panel 03 - the enigma at the end of the conundrum, as it were. The only possible explanation I can think of for this panel (and I must stress this is purely idle speculation) is that it show the congregation listening to a homily on the parable, with three figures paying careful attention while a fourth drives away the little devil sent to distract her. I am, of course, open to other suggestion! As is so often the case, the loss of the final two panels in the original sequence has meant the loss of crucial contextual information that might have made the meaning clear.