A BRUSSELS HISTORICAL TAPESTRY

LATE 16TH EARLY 17TH CENTURY

Details

A BRUSSELS HISTORICAL TAPESTRY
Late 16th early 17th Century
Woven in wools and silks, depicting Alexander taming Bucephalus, his white horse, before his father Philip of Macedonia and further courtly figures, partially under a canopy and with a mountainous landscape beyond, the borders with floral sprays and centred at the top by a putto flanked by strapwork cartouches, the sides with further putti and birds, the base with a river and a harvest goddess to the angles and further putti within an acanthus-scrolled border and a blue outer slip, the slip partially later, minor areas of re-weaving
155½in. x 171in. (395cm. x 435cm.)

Lot Essay

This scene illustrates Alexander the Great with his horse Bucephalus. The King of Macedonia and father of Alexander, Philip, first rejected the horse as untamable, but Alexander, by coaxing, succeeded in mastering it.

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