A DUTCH HISTORICAL TAPESTRY
PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF MR. AND MRS. ROBERTSON DAVIES, TORONTO (LOT 62)
A DUTCH HISTORICAL TAPESTRY

SECOND QUARTER-17TH CENTURY, PROBABLY DELFT

Details
A DUTCH HISTORICAL TAPESTRY
SECOND QUARTER-17TH CENTURY, PROBABLY DELFT
Depicting scenes from the story of Esther, minor restorations, on stretcher
8 ft. 3 in. (251 cm.) high, 6 ft. 4 in. (193 cm.)

Lot Essay

Vertical tapestries with smaller subjects to the lower section and either scrollwork or further figural scenes above are mostly associated with the workshops of Northern Netherlands. Delft developed as a weaving center in the third quarter 17th century with the flight of weavers from the Spanish Netherlands. Interestingly Biblical tapestries were not purchased by government institutions and Protestant rulers but probably commissioned by wealthy private clients.

RELATED TAPESTRIES
A tapestry with a closely related figural composition to the two main scenes in this tapestry is dated 1626 and illustrated in H. Göbel, Wandteppiche, Die germanischen und slawischen Länder, Leipzig, 1934, part III, vol. II, p. 131, pl. 105B and was sold from the collection of Blumenthal, 26 November 1946, lot 177. Göbel attributes that tapestry to a Wismar workshop but interestingly dates the design to the 1570s.
A tapestry attributed to François or Aert Spiering and depicting Christ and the Woman Taken in Adultery of circa 1610 - 1625 with a smaller scene to the lower section and grotesque scrolls to the top is illustrated in E. Hartkamp-Jonxis and H. Smit, European Tapestries in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, 2004, cat. 58, p. 233.

(E. Hartkamp-Jonxis and H. Smit, European Tapestries in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, 2004, pp. 175 - 191)
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