Live Auction 1585European Noble & Private Collections Including Fine Tapestries Part I
A FLEMISH PASTORAL TAPESTRY
Lot 141

A FLEMISH PASTORAL TAPESTRY

POSSIBLY ANTWERP, LATE 17TH/ EARLY 18TH CENTURY

Closed16 April 2014

Price Realised

GBP 30,000

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A FLEMISH PASTORAL TAPESTRY
POSSIBLY ANTWERP, LATE 17TH/ EARLY 18TH CENTURY
Woven in silks and wools, depicting 'Playing Boys', with a group of playful putti within a wooded landscape, the fruiting vine border with perched birds, within a brown outer slip
5 ft. 8 in. x 11 ft. 1 in. (172 cm. x 338 cm.)

Specialist note

This tapestry belongs to a group of tapestries generally known as the Playing Boys. The subject is derived from Italian tapestries woven in the 1540s, based on frescoes by Giulio Romano at the Palazzo del Te in Mantua. The winged children of the frescoes were engraved in Germany in 1529 and it was probably from these engravings, which omitted the wings, that the Brussels weavers drew their inspiration. The theme was much copied and also repeatedly woven at Gobelins, Beauvais, Aubusson, Madrid, Mortlake, Soho and other weaving centres.