A BRUSSELS ALLEGORICAL TAPESTRY

MID-18TH CENTURY, BY JAN FRANS VAN DER BORGHT

Details

A BRUSSELS ALLEGORICAL TAPESTRY
Mid-18th Century, by Jan Frans van der Borght
Woven in wools and silks, depicting South America from The Continents, with a central European figure flanked by an Indian wearing a feathered head gear, behind them with a further two figures and to the left in front of them with a man carrying a basket, to the right with two seated ladies, one holding a parrot and the other an apple, and a page holding flowering fruits, to the far right with a man pouring water into barrels before a fountain with a putto blowing water through a conch shell, with two birds perched on the edge and with a monkey watching from beyond, to the left foreground with a man with a large cloth and tortoises before him and to the far left with an Indian seated and smoking a pipe with armadillos before them, in the medium background with further figures gathering food and the background with men loading ships and sail boats, the left distance with a fortress and to the right with a hilly landscape with further buildings, within a later green outer slip, the right foreground signed with the Brussels town mark and 'F.V.D.BORGHT', one wrapped parcel to the foreground with initials 'DH', minor reweaving and patching
9 ft. x 15 ft. 7 in. (275 cm. x 475 cm.)

Lot Essay

This tapestry series consisted of five panels, including Europe, Africa, Asia, America and a panel illustrating the four Continents together (Australia had, although the Dutch landed in 1616 and the British in 1688, not really been explored until after James Cook's voyage in 1770). This version of the subject seems to have solely been woven by the van der Borght family. The presence of the weaver's signature of Jasper on one sets indicates that it was for certain designed before 1742 (D. Heinz, Europische Tapisseriekunst des 17. und 18. Jahrhunderts, Vienna, 1995, p. 209). It is believed that there were approximately nine sets made, but the only one to survive complete is in the Austrian State Collection at the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.

Jan Frans van der Borght (d. 1774) belonged to a large and famous dynasty of weavers and received his privileges in 1726. He initially worked with his father Jasper (d. 1742) and later with his younger brother Pieter (d. 1763).

A panel of identical subject, albeit smaller, was offered anonymously in these Rooms, 5 December 1947, lot 88, and a further, from the collection of Baron Henri de Rothschild, was sold Ader Picard Tajan, Paris, 22 March 1977, lot 141. A panel of this subject and of nearly identical size is illustrated in J. Boccara, Ames de Laine et de Soie, Saint-Juste-en-Chausse, 1988, p. 205, who suggests that the initials on the wrapped parcel to the foreground denotes de Hondt as the designer of the series.

More from The Mayorcas Collection of Tapestries and Textiles

View All