MID-17TH CENTURY

Details

A DUTCH FLORAL TABLE TAPESTRY
MID-17TH CENTURY
Woven in silks and wools, the blue ground with a cetnral cluster of flowers and fruits and surrounded by further clusters joined by foliate scrolls with ribbon-ties, within a beige outer guard border, losses, limited areas of reweaving
7 ft. 1 in. (216 cm.) high, 8 ft. 9 in. (266 cm.) wide

Provenance

Mrs. Telkle Schil from whom purchased by
French & Co, New York, in 1950.

Literature

Geweven Boeket, exhibition catalogue, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, 1971, cat. 57, pp. 31 and 85.

Lot Essay

Floral table tapestries became fashionable in northern Netherlands in the second and third quarter 17th century and were mainly woven in Delft, Gouda and Schoonhoven. Based on the higher frequency of such works of art in paintings by Delft masters, it is believed that this city was the main center for their weaving. However, it is believed that only slightly over 40 such tapestries survive today, most of which are in the Netherlands and many that were illustrated in Geweven Boeket, exhibition catalogue, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, 1971. None of these tapestries can be attributed to specific weavers and indeed only two bear an unidentified cypher, while four are dated between 1618 and 1691.

(E. Hartkamp-Jonxis, H. Smit, European Tapestries in the Rijksmuseum, Zwolle, 2004, pp. 273 - 282)

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