Lot Essay
A tapestry with very closely related borders with nearly identical angle clasps and the main subject depicting a man attacked by a lion before elders and with figures fleeing in the background is in the Christian Museum, Esztergom, Hungary (E. László and C. Kiadó, Flemish and French Tapestries in Hungary, Budapest, 1981, cat. 56).
These elaborate borders, depicting the Elements, were first used on the Story of Noah tapestry series woven for Philip II between 1563 and 1567 by Wilhelm de Pannemaker. In the first version an eagle is in the centre at the top, but later many variants developed from this idea. It appears that several workshops took up this design and had various versions commissioned. Three tapestries of a set of The Life of St. Paul in the Pinacoteca, Fabriano, also depict the phoenix rising out of the ashes to one border. The owl tormented by other birds also appears on two pergola tapestries, one in the Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, by Wilhem de Pannemaker, and one in the Louvre by Jan van den Hecke (E. Standen, European Post-Medieval Tapestries and Related Hangings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1985, pp. 158-159, for a discussion of the borders).
A tapestry with very closely related borders was sold anonymously at Maître Cornette de Saint-Cyr, Paris, 20 January 1989, lot 137, and a further version at Coutau-Brégarie, Paris, 28 October 1996, lot 86. (See lot 239 for a similar border).
These elaborate borders, depicting the Elements, were first used on the Story of Noah tapestry series woven for Philip II between 1563 and 1567 by Wilhelm de Pannemaker. In the first version an eagle is in the centre at the top, but later many variants developed from this idea. It appears that several workshops took up this design and had various versions commissioned. Three tapestries of a set of The Life of St. Paul in the Pinacoteca, Fabriano, also depict the phoenix rising out of the ashes to one border. The owl tormented by other birds also appears on two pergola tapestries, one in the Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, by Wilhem de Pannemaker, and one in the Louvre by Jan van den Hecke (E. Standen, European Post-Medieval Tapestries and Related Hangings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1985, pp. 158-159, for a discussion of the borders).
A tapestry with very closely related borders was sold anonymously at Maître Cornette de Saint-Cyr, Paris, 20 January 1989, lot 137, and a further version at Coutau-Brégarie, Paris, 28 October 1996, lot 86. (See lot 239 for a similar border).