BEAUVAIS, LATE 17TH/ EARLY 18TH CENTURY

Details

A LOUIS XIV MYTHOLOGICAL TAPESTRY
BEAUVAIS, LATE 17TH/ EARLY 18TH CENTURY
Woven in silks and wools, depicting a scene from Ovid's 'Metamorphosis', showing the nymph Daphne and her father the river god Peneus attended by Diana and her companions, within a scrolling foliate border
8 ft. 1 in. x 12 ft. 7 in. (248 x 384 cm.)

Literature

B. Jestaz, The Beauvais Manufactory in 1690, Act of the Tapestry Symposium, San Francisco, 1974, pp. 159-207

Special notice

From time to time, Christie's may offer a lot which it owns in whole or in part. This is such a lot.

Brought to you by

Sophie Mckinney

smckinney@christies.com +44 (0)20 7752 3276

Lot Essay

In the late 17th and early 18th centuries, the Royal Beauvais Manufactory produced two distinct series of the 'Metamorphoses', distinguished by the size of the figures depicted. Other subjects which can with certainty be included in the series are in order of the Beauvais records, 1. 'The Abduction of Orinthia' by Boreas, 2. 'Vertumnus and Pomona', 3. 'Alpheius and Arethusa', 4. 'Cephalus and Procris', and 5. 'Diana and Callisto'. The appearance of five tapestries of the same subject but with partially varying panels may indicate that the series may have consisted of ten panels in total. Five different borders are recorded, this one being apparently unique.

More from Noble & Private Collections Part I

View All