A BRUSSELS BIBLICAL TAPESTRY, depicting the Passover and the death of the firstborn, woven in wools, silks and metal-threads, the foreground with a family seated in an interior sharing a roasted lamb, the background with Moses discussing with the Pharao and with animals and people dying, within a hilly landscape, the border with central cartouche at the top inscribed VLCISCENS DNS PRIMOGENITVM NECAT OMNE./TVRMATIM POPVLVL TVTVS ABIR E POTEST, the sides headed by cartouches above fruiting and foliate vases and a fountain of a Bacchic figure on a barrel, above a maiden, the base with a fountain of a winged beast flanked by two reclining figures and floral and foliate vases, within a spirally turning foliate border and blue outer slip with Brussels town mark and the unidentified waever's mark IFC, areas of re-weaving, the outer slip partially turned over, mid-16th Century | Christie's

Lot 304

304

THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN

A BRUSSELS BIBLICAL TAPESTRY, depicting the Passover and the death of the firstborn, woven in wools, silks and metal-threads, the foreground with a family seated in an interior sharing a roasted lamb, the background with Moses discussing with the Pharao and with animals and people dying, within a hilly landscape, the border with central cartouche at the top inscribed VLCISCENS DNS PRIMOGENITVM NECAT OMNE./TVRMATIM POPVLVL TVTVS ABIR E POTEST, the sides headed by cartouches above fruiting and foliate vases and a fountain of a Bacchic figure on a barrel, above a maiden, the base with a fountain of a winged beast flanked by two reclining figures and floral and foliate vases, within a spirally turning foliate border and blue outer slip with Brussels town mark and the unidentified waever's mark IFC, areas of re-weaving, the outer slip partially turned over, mid-16th Century

Details

A BRUSSELS BIBLICAL TAPESTRY, depicting the Passover and the death of the firstborn, woven in wools, silks and metal-threads, the foreground with a family seated in an interior sharing a roasted lamb, the background with Moses discussing with the Pharao and with animals and people dying, within a hilly landscape, the border with central cartouche at the top inscribed VLCISCENS DNS PRIMOGENITVM NECAT OMNE./TVRMATIM POPVLVL TVTVS ABIR E POTEST, the sides headed by cartouches above fruiting and foliate vases and a fountain of a Bacchic figure on a barrel, above a maiden, the base with a fountain of a winged beast flanked by two reclining figures and floral and foliate vases, within a spirally turning foliate border and blue outer slip with Brussels town mark and the unidentified waever's mark IFC, areas of re-weaving, the outer slip partially turned over, mid-16th Century
136in. x 178½in. (346cm. x 454cm.)

Provenance

Edward Steinkopff, sold by his Executors in these Rooms, 22-3 May 1935, lot 239

Lot Essay

The greyhound is closely related to that in Albrecht Dürer's engraving of the Vision of St. Eustace of circa 1500-2
A closely related series of tapestries depicting the story of Dido and Aeneas, all with similar borders and with identical foliate-wrapped slips, are in the Royal Collection in Madrid (P. De Vega, Catalogo de Tapices del Patrimonio Nacional, Volumen 1: Siglo XVI, Madrid, 1986, serie 116, pp. 325-332)

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