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Lot Essay
Attribution
It is certain that centres such as Enghien, Grammont and Audenarde manufactured large leaf verdure tapestries but it is also probable that many other cities produced 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.
A feuilles de choux tapestry that has very similar borders and the same very thorn-like leaves that are not veined, is in the Museum for Fine Arts, Boston (A Cavallo, Tapestries of Europe and of Colonial Peru in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston, 1967, vol. II, pl. 27, and vol. I, cat. 27, pp. 106 - 107). These particularities, including the borders that have leaves that do not overlap with the main filed and vice versa, allow Cavallo to attribute that tapestry loosely to Enghien and more so to Grammont based on comparable pieces that bear town marks. Two such pieces are in the Austrian State Collection, Vienna, and are illustrated in L. Baldass, Die Wiener Gobelinssammlung, Vienna, 1920, vol. I, pls. 108 and 106 (bearing the marks of Enghien and Grammont, respectively), while a third bearing the town mark of Grammont is in the Hamburgisches Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe (H. Göbel, Tapestries of the Lowlands, New York, 1924, pl. 471). Another tapestry with very closely related column border enhanced by clusters of flowers and brackets is illustrated in J. Boccara,Ames de Laine et de Soie, Saint-Rémy-en-l'Eau, 1988, p. 69. It is interesting to further compare the laurel-column border with those of marked Brussels tapestries such as that woven by Jan Raes in the late 16th Century and depicting Tobias (V. and C. Sternberg, Exhibition of Important Tapestries 480 - 1780, exhibition catalogue, London, 1965, cat. 11).
Origins of the Design
Large leaf verdure tapestries, which can almost be considered precursors to Surrealism, appeared at the beginning of the second quarter of the 16th Century and probably evolved from millefleurs tapestries. While millefleurs tapestries retained a peaceful and ordered appearance and were drawn in a flat manner, large leaf verdures display a rich and spontaneous fantasy, defy form and reason and are extremely three-dimensional. These tapestries are known as feuilles de choux or feuilles d'aristoloche although the name 'cabbage leaf verdure' is incorrect as they are usually meant to represent monumental acanthus or bearsbreech. Large leaf verdure tapestries introduced a three-dimensional and naturalistic appearance that was reinforced by the inclusion of naturalistic birds and occasionally mythological animals and rarely by human figures.
It is certain that centres such as Enghien, Grammont and Audenarde manufactured large leaf verdure tapestries but it is also probable that many other cities produced 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.
A feuilles de choux tapestry that has very similar borders and the same very thorn-like leaves that are not veined, is in the Museum for Fine Arts, Boston (A Cavallo, Tapestries of Europe and of Colonial Peru in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston, 1967, vol. II, pl. 27, and vol. I, cat. 27, pp. 106 - 107). These particularities, including the borders that have leaves that do not overlap with the main filed and vice versa, allow Cavallo to attribute that tapestry loosely to Enghien and more so to Grammont based on comparable pieces that bear town marks. Two such pieces are in the Austrian State Collection, Vienna, and are illustrated in L. Baldass, Die Wiener Gobelinssammlung, Vienna, 1920, vol. I, pls. 108 and 106 (bearing the marks of Enghien and Grammont, respectively), while a third bearing the town mark of Grammont is in the Hamburgisches Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe (H. Göbel, Tapestries of the Lowlands, New York, 1924, pl. 471). Another tapestry with very closely related column border enhanced by clusters of flowers and brackets is illustrated in J. Boccara,Ames de Laine et de Soie, Saint-Rémy-en-l'Eau, 1988, p. 69. It is interesting to further compare the laurel-column border with those of marked Brussels tapestries such as that woven by Jan Raes in the late 16th Century and depicting Tobias (V. and C. Sternberg, Exhibition of Important Tapestries 480 - 1780, exhibition catalogue, London, 1965, cat. 11).
Origins of the Design
Large leaf verdure tapestries, which can almost be considered precursors to Surrealism, appeared at the beginning of the second quarter of the 16th Century and probably evolved from millefleurs tapestries. While millefleurs tapestries retained a peaceful and ordered appearance and were drawn in a flat manner, large leaf verdures display a rich and spontaneous fantasy, defy form and reason and are extremely three-dimensional. These tapestries are known as feuilles de choux or feuilles d'aristoloche although the name 'cabbage leaf verdure' is incorrect as they are usually meant to represent monumental acanthus or bearsbreech. Large leaf verdure tapestries introduced a three-dimensional and naturalistic appearance that was reinforced by the inclusion of naturalistic birds and occasionally mythological animals and rarely by human figures.