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A SET OF FOUR COPENHAGEN TAPESTRIES (LOTS 226-229) Copenhagen Workshops and Provenance: The following four tapestries form part of a very small and rare group of tapestries woven in Copenhagen. King Christian V of Denmark founded a very short-lived workshop at Köge in 1684 with the arrival of the Flemish weaver Bernt van der Eichen. The initial commissions were two test pieces depicting scenes of Alexander the Great (now at Frederiksborg Castle), while the main commission, for which the workshop was really opened, was a series of 12 tapestries commemorating the victories of Christian V over Sweden during the 'Schonen' wars (1675 - 1677) (now at Rosenberg Castle). The tapestries all bear the weaver's name, and, as these four tapestries, the initials 'C.H.' 'K.H.' for Copenhagen. The set was completed in 1692. Thereafter van der Eichen mainly concentrated on restorations and requested to be allowed to return to the Netherlandds in 1698. The workshop was finally closed in 1700. The knowledge of the production of the workshop between 1692 and 1700 is very limited. The only other mention of his work in documents is interestingly for a set of four tapestries that were supplied to the Royal castle Jaegersborg. Payments were made to artists and the weaver between 10 November 1694 - 20 October 1695, but the document does not elaborate any further and it is thus not possible to link this set with certainty to that commission (H. Göbel, Wandteppiche, Leipzig, 1934, part III, vol. II, p. 233). Provenance: In addition to the above known tapestries, van der Eichen was also expressly allowed to manufacture tapestries for private individuals, but there are none that can be attributed to him with certainty. However, J.G. Burman-Becker in his Forsorg til en Beskrivelse af og Efterretninger om vaevde Tapeter of andre maerkelige Vaegge-decoationer i Danmark, Copenhagen, 1875, mentions various series in the castle Rosenholm in Jutland as being from Copenhagen. Formerly the property of the Barons Rosenkrantz, and now that of the foundation Rosenkrantz, he mentions four series, among which is a set of four tapestries illustrating the series of Jupiter and Io. He mentions the four subjects and the letter 'K' as signature. He also specifies that the series was only transferred to Rosenholm when the family Rosenkrantz inherited castle Willestrup (Jutland) in the second half of the 18th Century. It is possible that the following four tapestries can be identified with the set that was originally at Willestrup, although one tapestry panel was given a title that does not match up with the corresponding panel of this set. It may also be possible that it is the same set that was supplied to Jaegersborg in 1695. (D. Heinz, Europäische Tapisseriekunst des 17. und 18. Jahrhunderts, Vienna, 1995, pp. 198 and 338). Subject: The four panels depict the story of Jupiter and Io from Ovid's Metamorphoses. Io, the daughter of Inachus, the first King of Argos, was seduced by Jupiter who approached her disguised as a cloud to conceal his infidelity from his wife, Juno. Juno, however, found out and Jupiter transformed Io into a white heifer, but she asked for it as a gift, which Jupiter could not refuse. Juno entrusted the heifer to the hundred-eyed giant Argus but Jupiter sent Mercury to rescue Io. Mercury lulled Argus to sleep with his lyre and cut off his head. Juno continued to torment Io by sending a gadfly after her, and set the hundred eyes of Argus in the tail of a peacock. THE PROPERTY OF AN AUSTRIAN NOBLE FAMILY (LOTS 226-229)

A COPENHAGEN MYTHOLOGICAL TAPESTRY

CIRCA 1690S, ATTRIBUTED TO BERNT VAN DER EICHEN

Details

A COPENHAGEN MYTHOLOGICAL TAPESTRY
Circa 1690s, attributed to Bernt van der Eichen
Woven in wools and silks, depicting Jupiter approching Io in a Cloud from the series of Jupiter and Io, showing Io standing at a waterfall in a wooded landscape, above her Cupid with flower-garlands and Jupiter with his eagle sitting on a cloud, within a beige and black outer slip with the initials 'K.H.', minor reweaving especially to the dark browns, repaired circular cut to left figure
10 ft. 4 in. (315 cm.) high; 11. ft. 4 in. (346 cm.) wide

Provenance

Possibly commissioned 10 November 1694 - 20 October 1695 for the Royal castle Jaegersborg.
Possibly before the second half 18th Century castle Willestrup, Jutland.
Possibly inherited by the Rosenkrantz family in the second half 18th Century and transferred to Rosenholm, Jutland where it remained certainly until 1875.

Literature

Possibly J.G. Burman-Becker in his Forsorg til en Beskrivelse af og Efterretninger om vaevde Tapeter of andre maerkelige Vaegge-decoationer i Danmark, Copenhagen, 1875.
Possibly H. Göbel, Wandteppiche, Leipzig, 1934, part III, vol. II, p. 316.

Special notice

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