This is engraved in intaglio with eight scenes depicting the story of Susanna and the Elders, related in the Book of Daniel (but regarded as part of the Apocrypha by Protestants).

[1][3] The engravings on the crystal are executed in the energetic and distinctive early mediæval Rheims style which originated in manuscript drawings such as those in the Utrecht Psalter.

The 'h' was dropped in Old Low Franconian only at the end of the 9th century, which would suggest that the line would have been added after Lothair II's reign, or that the crystal might have been made by someone else.

[6] Mats Dijkdrent on the other hand thinks that the line could have been added to make it a more convincing relic made by St Eligius who, according to his vita, would have worked for a certain Lothar, king of the Franks (actually Clothar II).

[8] It reappeared in the hands of a Belgian dealer, who claimed it had been retrieved from the river bed and sold it to a French collector for twelve francs.

[4] Under this interpretation, the crystal may have been an attempt to show visually the ruler's responsibility to provide justice, using a biblical parallel to exhort him to uphold the ideal of wise rule exemplified by the just kings of the Old Testament.

[12] Valerie Flint has argued that the crystal is related to the acrimonious divorce of Lothair and his wife Theutberga, whom he accused of committing incest and practicing abortion.

Flint suggests that the crystal was designed in 865, when Lothar had a temporary reconciliation with his wife, to serve both as a reproach to the king for his conduct and as a charm to protect the royal couple against evil.