BY JAN AERTS, BRUSSELS, SECOND QUARTER 17TH CENTURY

Details

A FLEMISH HISTORICAL TAPESTRY
BY JAN AERTS, BRUSSELS, SECOND QUARTER 17TH CENTURY
Woven in silks and wools, probably depicting a scene from 'The story of Jephtha', with the procession led by the horse-drawn chariot surrounded by attendants, in the background farmers bringing in the harvest, within a border decorated with panels of allegorical figures alternating with flower-filled vases and putti, the blue outerslip with Brussels town mark and weaver's cypher, localised losses and areas of re-weaving
10 ft. 11 in. x 14 ft. 8 in. (334 cm. x 448 cm.)

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Lot Essay

A closely related tapestry also signed by Jan Aerts and with identical borders, depicting Priam, king of Troy, was sold at Sotheby’s, New York, 30 May 1987, lot 247. It had been part of a set presented by King Louis XIII of France to Francesco Barberini, Papal legate to the French Court, for his uncle, Urban XVIII and was subsequently recorded in the Barberini Palace in Rome in an inventory drawn up by Cardinal Carlo Barberini in October 1695. Its close similarities suggesting it might have been conceived as part of the same set as the present tapestry, raising the possibility that this tapestry too could have been part of the 16th century royal gift to pope Urban XVIII.

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