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Lot Essay
This mystical and fantastical large-leaf verdure or feuilles de choux tapestry epitomises the 16th Century fascination with the discovery of nature. Tapestries dominated by a background of 'untamed' flowers and foliage are already recorded in Philip the Good's inventory of 1430 where one tapestry is described 'de fil d'Arras, 'plusieurs herbages et fleurettes, ouvri au mylieu de deux personnages, assavoir d'un chevalier et d'une dame, et de six personnages d'enfants'. One of the earliest and grandest surviving examples, however, is in the Bernisches Historisches Museum, Berne, and depicts the arms of Philip the Good flanked by stags on a millefleurs background and was woven by Jan de Haze in Brussels in circa 1466.
Large leaf verdure tapestries, which can almost be considered precursors to Surrealism, on the other hand appeared at the beginning of the second quarter of the 16th Century and probably evolved from these millefleurs tapestries. While the millefleurs tapestries retained a peaceful and ordered appearance and were drawn in a flat manner, these large leaf verdures display a rich and spontaneous fantasy, defy form and reason and are extremely three-dimensional. Large leaf verdure tapestries introduced a three-dimensional and a naturalistic appearance that was reinforced by the inclusion of naturalistic birds and occasionally mythological animals such as in this panel.
Although most Flemish weaving centres adopted this genre of tapestry into their repertoire, their symbolic origins and sudden and widespread popularity remain unexplained. It appears that these untamed thickets, seemingly beyond the control of man, possibly represented the preeminent fears of medieval society of chaos, insanity and ungodliness although they may have no specific symbolic meaning. They certainly seem to present a darker image of nature than the ordered, more courtly of the slightly earlier millefleurs tapestries. They also have clear parallels with the surrealistic worlds created by painters such as Hieronimus Bosch (1460 - 1516) and Joseph Arcimboldo (1527 - 1593) and may be the product of the rising interest in plant-life at the beginning of the 16th century.
It is certain that centres such as Enghien, Grammont and Audenarde manufactured large leaf verdure tapestries but it is probable that other cities also made similar works. It is believed that most weaving centres in southern Flanders were actually involved in the production of these tapestries and that possibly even towns of the Marche district in France may have woven examples. The identification of specific weaving centres for these tapestries is greatly hindered by the rarity of town marks on the tapestries and insufficient descriptions of the tapestries in 16th Century records. However, a tapestry with very similar borders and a Rhinoceros flanked by two lions in similar foliage appears to bear the town mark of Grammont (Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 20/21 September 1940, lot 399) and would suggest that the offered lot is also woven in that weaving centre.
A tapestry of similar character but more fragmentary from the Gutmann Collection was sold, Christie's, Amsterdam, 13 May 2003, lot 30.
Large leaf verdure tapestries, which can almost be considered precursors to Surrealism, on the other hand appeared at the beginning of the second quarter of the 16th Century and probably evolved from these millefleurs tapestries. While the millefleurs tapestries retained a peaceful and ordered appearance and were drawn in a flat manner, these large leaf verdures display a rich and spontaneous fantasy, defy form and reason and are extremely three-dimensional. Large leaf verdure tapestries introduced a three-dimensional and a naturalistic appearance that was reinforced by the inclusion of naturalistic birds and occasionally mythological animals such as in this panel.
Although most Flemish weaving centres adopted this genre of tapestry into their repertoire, their symbolic origins and sudden and widespread popularity remain unexplained. It appears that these untamed thickets, seemingly beyond the control of man, possibly represented the preeminent fears of medieval society of chaos, insanity and ungodliness although they may have no specific symbolic meaning. They certainly seem to present a darker image of nature than the ordered, more courtly of the slightly earlier millefleurs tapestries. They also have clear parallels with the surrealistic worlds created by painters such as Hieronimus Bosch (1460 - 1516) and Joseph Arcimboldo (1527 - 1593) and may be the product of the rising interest in plant-life at the beginning of the 16th century.
It is certain that centres such as Enghien, Grammont and Audenarde manufactured large leaf verdure tapestries but it is probable that other cities also made similar works. It is believed that most weaving centres in southern Flanders were actually involved in the production of these tapestries and that possibly even towns of the Marche district in France may have woven examples. The identification of specific weaving centres for these tapestries is greatly hindered by the rarity of town marks on the tapestries and insufficient descriptions of the tapestries in 16th Century records. However, a tapestry with very similar borders and a Rhinoceros flanked by two lions in similar foliage appears to bear the town mark of Grammont (Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 20/21 September 1940, lot 399) and would suggest that the offered lot is also woven in that weaving centre.
A tapestry of similar character but more fragmentary from the Gutmann Collection was sold, Christie's, Amsterdam, 13 May 2003, lot 30.