A FLEMISH VERDURE TAPESTRY FRAGMENT

PROBABLY BRUSSELS, FIRST QUARTER 17TH CENTURY

Details

The scene centering on an elegant bird with a long neck and legs set within a garden with grand Classical architecture behind and elaborate vases issuing exotic bouquets
Approximately 8 ft. 5 in. (2 m. 57 cm.) x 9 ft. 10 in. (3 m.)


Lot Essay

Featuring large flowering vases in an elaborate architectural setting, this tapestry is related to a large group of garden or pergola tapestries generally associated with the Brussels workshops. There is an extensive group in the Spanish Royal Collection illustrated in P. Junquera de Vega and C. Diaz Gallegos, Catalogo de Tapices del Patrimonio Nacional, Madrid, 1986, vol. II, pp. 199-242. A further set of five tapestries of this type is in the Royal Collection at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh, see M. Swain, Tapestries and Textiles at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, London, 1988, pp. 17-19, fig. 3. With its large bird in the center, this lot closely relates to two tapestry in the Spanish Royal Collection, op. cit., pp. 229 and 230, that also feature similar crane-like birds.