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Lot Essay
MATANCA
The arms on this tapestry are almost certainly those of the Matanca family of Burgos, Spain. In the early 16th century the Matanca family established a branch in Bruges as merchants. Jan de Matanca built the palais Het Ei in the city in 1535 and the family later also purchased the casteel Tillegembos outside Bruges. The Matancas remained in Bruges until the 18th century.
This tapestry, with its distinctive plumed helmet and borders with medallions to the corners relates closely to a pair with the arms of Nagera at the Musées communaux in Bruges. They bear the same weaver's mark that has been loosely attributed to Aernout van Loo by Guy Delmarcel ('Bruges et la Tapisserie', exhibition catalogue, Bruges, 1987, cats. 11 and 12, pp. 223 - 227). Van Loo is recorded in Bruges from 1525 to 1585, but the presence of the town mark on the offered lot suggests that it was woven after 2 May 1547 when the guild stipulated its use. The pair of Nagera tapestries were probably woven before 1578, when the family appears to have disappeared from Bruges.
Interestingly several Spanish families resident in Bruges are mentioned in a lawsuit concerning the recovery of losses incurred when their wool that was being shipped from Spain to Bruges was held up by the English in 1570. Another Bruges tapestry by the same weaver but with banners surrounding the arms of Gasca de la Vega family and with more figurative borders and bearing the date of 1556, was sold at Sotheby's, New York, 11 October 1995, lot 393. Another with the arms of the Parreno family with very similar scroll-work and borders with armorial to the angles was anonymously sold Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 11 - 13 March 1948, lot 597 and again Sotheby's, New York, 22 June 1989, lot 315.
The arms on this tapestry are almost certainly those of the Matanca family of Burgos, Spain. In the early 16th century the Matanca family established a branch in Bruges as merchants. Jan de Matanca built the palais Het Ei in the city in 1535 and the family later also purchased the casteel Tillegembos outside Bruges. The Matancas remained in Bruges until the 18th century.
This tapestry, with its distinctive plumed helmet and borders with medallions to the corners relates closely to a pair with the arms of Nagera at the Musées communaux in Bruges. They bear the same weaver's mark that has been loosely attributed to Aernout van Loo by Guy Delmarcel ('Bruges et la Tapisserie', exhibition catalogue, Bruges, 1987, cats. 11 and 12, pp. 223 - 227). Van Loo is recorded in Bruges from 1525 to 1585, but the presence of the town mark on the offered lot suggests that it was woven after 2 May 1547 when the guild stipulated its use. The pair of Nagera tapestries were probably woven before 1578, when the family appears to have disappeared from Bruges.
Interestingly several Spanish families resident in Bruges are mentioned in a lawsuit concerning the recovery of losses incurred when their wool that was being shipped from Spain to Bruges was held up by the English in 1570. Another Bruges tapestry by the same weaver but with banners surrounding the arms of Gasca de la Vega family and with more figurative borders and bearing the date of 1556, was sold at Sotheby's, New York, 11 October 1995, lot 393. Another with the arms of the Parreno family with very similar scroll-work and borders with armorial to the angles was anonymously sold Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 11 - 13 March 1948, lot 597 and again Sotheby's, New York, 22 June 1989, lot 315.