At the top of the walls of the main hall, crowning the painted decoration is a frieze of coats of arms alternating with stylized plant motifs. This part of the decoration has been whitewashed, perhaps during the revolution, making it very difficult to read. It will remain so as long as a restoration of the paintings has not removed this superficial layer. Some of the coats of arms, however, can be seen through this white veil.
Heraldry is almost ubiquitous in the civil decoration of the Gothic period and such friezes of coats of arms allowed the lords to show their alliances with other powerful families. Moreover, they were highly valued motifs because of their decorative aspect.
The restoration of the painted decoration will bring back to life these symbols, which are precious clues for the historian to identify the patron and situate him in his network of political alliances. However, characteristic motifs are already discernible, such as crosses, fleur-de-lis, and stylized vair fur.
Furthermore, if we look closely at this frieze of shields, we can see that every second coat of arms has a yellow(golden) background and if we look more closely at the most legible of them, we can see a cross-shaped outline and traces of blue pigments distributed in the branches of the cross. We can deduce that this is most certainly the coat of arms of the Counts of Geneva, which is blazoned: gold with four points equi-coloured azure. From this, we can deduce that the sponsors of the decoration and certainly also of the construction of the Châtel are indeed the Counts of Geneva and more precisely Amédée II (1280-1308), the new Lord of Theys since 1282.
