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III.—On a panel of tapestry of about the year 1400 and probably of English origin

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 November 2011

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Extract

The piece of tapestry that forms the subject of this communication has but the shortest of histories (pl. VII). It formed part of the Heckscher Collection sold at Messrs. Christie's in 1898; and, attracted by the interesting character of the subject and the admirable preservation and brilliant colouring of the fabric itself, I secured it soon after the sale as it was on the point of going abroad. The Heckscher Collection was brought together in Vienna, and was of a miscellaneous character, containing some very fine works of art, among them an unusually perfect crosier head by Frere Hugo, the famous Flemish goldsmith, which I was fortunate in securing for the British Museum. It is hardly necessary to say that although the collection was formed in Austria, the objects composing it had been derived from a variety of sources, not least from England, as e. g. a Rhenish enamel formerly in the Beresford Hope Collection. No indication is given of the source whence the tapestry was derived. Since it has been in my possession it has been seen by a great number of my colleagues in continental museums and elsewhere abroad. All of these, French, German, Swiss, Flemish, and Spanish, were greatly intrigued as to its country of origin, but in every case each felt sure that it was not a product of his own country. Thus the panel acquired an added interest, and I had a photograph made, and circulated it among a limited number of authorities on the subject, both in England and abroad.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1917

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References

page 36 note 1 It will not be forgotten that there is no small diversity of opinion as to the nationality of the Wilton diptych. I myself have always been disposed to regard it as being English, but authorities of no small weight think it to be foreign.

page 36 note 1 The annexed block from an English alabaster table in the possession of Dr. Philip Nelson, F.S.A., illustrates these points, and there seems to me also great similarity in other respects between the faces and those in the tapestry, e. g. that of the Virgin and of the angel holding the cross.

page 36 note 2 Medieval Figure Sculpture in England, figs. 82, 19, 370, 420, 501, 518, 526.

page 42 note 1 Prior and Gardner, op. cit., figs. 599, 600.