A GERMAN RELIGIOUS TAPESTRY PANEL

16TH CENTURY

細節

A GERMAN RELIGIOUS TAPESTRY PANEL
16th Century
Woven in wools and metal-thread, depicting a central panel with St. Margaret holding a staff and a book, standing on a dragon and with a gilt coronet in a halo, below a canopy and inscribed to the top 'MARGARETA', flanked to each side by a textile-patterned floral cartouche and within a later brown outer slip, minor reweaving and patching, mounted on a board, reduced in size
17 in. x 31 in. (44 cm. x 80 cm.)

拍品專文

The story of Margaret of Antioch was found to be but a romance and she was removed from the Church Calendar in 1969. The legend tells how the prefect of Antioch wished to marry her, but she refused proclaiming that she was a Christian virgin. She was cruelly tortured and thrown into the dungeon where Satan in the form of a dragon devoured her. But the cross in her hand caused the dragon to burst open and she emerged unharmed. She was finally beheaded after praying that women in labour might be safely delivered of their child.