.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
An almost identical panel was at the exhibition Five Centuries of Tapestry at the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco (1976). The description in the catalogue reads: 'Woven in Peru two centuries after the Spanish conquest, this offspring of two cultures bears a general resemblance to the European tapestries among which it is included, while retaining certain technical features typical of its New World inheritance.
The tapestry displays the heraldic shield of Don Luis Jeronimo Fernandez Cabrera y Bobadilla, Count of Chinchon, beneath a uniting seven pointed crown. Each quarter of the shield corresponds to either the Cabrera or the Bobadilla family. The lion and the castle in the border are the insignias of Leon and Castille. Don Luis, whose biography has been published, was Viceroy of Peru from 1627 to 1629.
Heavy black outlines define the major areas: the outer frame, the rounded shield shape, the narrow device bearing strip forming its outer edge, and its internal divisions. This use of black intensifies the predominating red of the ground, as well as the golds, tans and whites. Dark outlines were characteristic of the final phase of pre-Columbian tapestries. Their presence in this panel may represent a continuation of this tradition.' (ex. cat., Five Centuries of Tapestry, p. 196)
Comparable examples can be found in the Hearst Collection, San Simeon and the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco (in.no. 1975.4.1).
The tapestry displays the heraldic shield of Don Luis Jeronimo Fernandez Cabrera y Bobadilla, Count of Chinchon, beneath a uniting seven pointed crown. Each quarter of the shield corresponds to either the Cabrera or the Bobadilla family. The lion and the castle in the border are the insignias of Leon and Castille. Don Luis, whose biography has been published, was Viceroy of Peru from 1627 to 1629.
Heavy black outlines define the major areas: the outer frame, the rounded shield shape, the narrow device bearing strip forming its outer edge, and its internal divisions. This use of black intensifies the predominating red of the ground, as well as the golds, tans and whites. Dark outlines were characteristic of the final phase of pre-Columbian tapestries. Their presence in this panel may represent a continuation of this tradition.' (ex. cat., Five Centuries of Tapestry, p. 196)
Comparable examples can be found in the Hearst Collection, San Simeon and the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco (in.no. 1975.4.1).