A BRUSSELS HISTORICAL TAPESTRY

LATE 16TH EARLY 17TH CENTURY

Details

A BRUSSELS HISTORICAL TAPESTRY
Late 16th early 17th Century
Woven in wools and silks, and depicting the meeting of Mark Antony and Cleopatra surrounded by maids of honour, musicians, courtiers, soldiers, children, all in bright regalia, the background with a fountain and mountainous landscape, columns, temples and to the top right corner a banquet, probably reduced in size, reweaving and patching and areas heightened with colour, within a later brown and cream outer slip
9 ft. 5 in. x 15 ft. 4 in. (287 cm. x 467 cm.)

Lot Essay

The subject depicts the legendary meeting of Mark Antony (81/82 - 30 BC) with Cleopatra VII (69 - 30 BC). The background shows Antony, Cleopatra and Enobarbus seated around a table. Antony expresses surprise about the magnificence of her banquet. The Queen, in response to his reaction, takes a priceless pearl and dissolves it in a glass of wine which she drinks, demonstrating her indifference to riches.

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