A TOURNAI BIBLICAL TAPESTRY , EARLY 16TH CENTURY

Sale 6639

Fine European Furniture, Sculpture, Tapestries and Carpets

London

|

14 November 2002

Browse Sale

Lot 216 | THE PROPERTY OF A LADY Read more

A TOURNAI BIBLICAL TAPESTRY

EARLY 16TH CENTURY

Price realised

GBP 35,850

Estimate

GBP 30,000 - GBP 50,000

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A TOURNAI BIBLICAL TAPESTRY
Early 16th Century
Woven in wools and silks, probably depicting Absalom before David, with David holding a sceptre seated on an architectural throne with an arcaded back with portrait-medallions to the spandrels, flanked on either side by courtly figures, to the front left with the kneeling Tamar, and to the left with the kneeling Amnon, the left with Absalom and the front with a recumbent dog and a flower spray, the background with a wooded landscape and to the right with a townscape, the border with alternating fruiting vines and flowering foliage and within a green and yellow outer slip, reduced in height and width, the majority of the right hand border and a section of the top border rewoven and further patching and reweaving to the borders, the central panel with minor restorations
9 ft. 2 in. (278 cm.) x 11 ft. 10 in. (361 cm.)

Provenance

Anonymous sale in these Rooms, 27 June 1963, lot 168.
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Literature and exhibited

Exhibited

By repute, this panel was one of a set of seven Brussels tapestries exhibited in the Brussels Exibition, 1935, no. 615.

Lot Essay

This scene appears to be taken from the story of David and Absalom. Tamar, the daughter of King David and Absalom's brother, was raped by her half-brother Amnon. The king refused to punish his son. Absalom, who was determined to avenge his sister, slew Amnon at a sheep-shearing contest he had organised. Absalom fled to another tribe while the King mourned his son. David's love for his son Absalom eventually overcame his anger and they reconciled.
A closely related border appears on a tapestry illustrating the Triumph of Fame which was sold anonymously in these Rooms, 14 June 1990, lot 178.

Special notice

Special Notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis

Pre-Lot Text

THE PROPERTY OF A LADY
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Lot 216 | THE PROPERTY OF A LADY Read more

A TOURNAI BIBLICAL TAPESTRY

EARLY 16TH CENTURY

Recommended features

Collecting guide: the third generation of Pre-Raphaelites

A pair of large Tang dynasty terracotta camel mingqi — or ‘vessels for ghosts’