A PAIR OF BIBLICAL OLD TESTAMENT TAPESTRY CUSHION PANELS, ENGLISH (SHELDON) OR FLEMISH LATE 16TH/EARLY 17TH CENTURY |

Littlecote House, Hungerford, Sotheby's, 20th - 22nd November 1985, lot 462 (from a set of six important panels, sold then as three pairs)

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

The silver and gilt metal-thread highlights are in the border and within the main pictorial areas. There is original blue selvedge visible and pale pink on the sides. Loose backing, so reverse visible in areas. Showing the thread ends on the reverse. Both have lining on the reverse, having been used as cushions facings. applied with complimentary silk fringed passementerie with corner tassels. There are small handwritten labels attached to the reverse lower edge of both pieces. Very colourful and attractive pieces. Very finely woven and enhanced having the metal-thread highlights. Rare pieces, from a distinctive series. For additional photographs contact Gina.Tammaro@sothebys.com in the furniture and decorative arts department.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

A very similar set of five panels, from The Story of Jacob, Flemish, late 16th/early 17th century, with silk, silver and silver-gilt metal thread, (51 by 6cm) with identical scenes, the same compositional design, and incorporation of the lion masks within the curved edged lozenge frame, and with slight variations in the border type, to those from the set from Littlecote Park, are in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (Inv.T181-183-1925). The panel depicting Jacob and Rachel, offered here, is interpreted in the comparable set in the V&A museum, in a long cushion design, with variation in the composition as more figures included. See G.F. Wingfield Digby, The Tapestry Collection – Medieval and Renaissance, Victoria and Albert Museum, London 1980, cat. no. 63, pp.64-65, pls. 91A-E, pl.92. The use of the lion-mask is also found on a 1600-1620 armorial English cushion cover with the arms of Sacheverell, in the V&A museum (Inv.T.195-1914). Before upholstered furniture came into use in the seventeenth century, cushions were placed on chairs, stools and window-seats, to provide warmth and comfort. These examples are particularly high quality with the use of silk and metal-thread detailing.

Littlecote House:

Littlecote lies amidst gardens and water-meadows on the banks of the Kennet, between Hungerford and Ramsbury. The valley is sufficiently favoured to have attracted the Romans, who built a number of villas in the area, notably one in Littlecote Park, discovered in the eighteenth century complete with the mosaic floor of a temple dedicated to the cult of Dionysus.

In the thirteenth century, Littlecote belonged to the Calston family; about 1415 it passed by marriage to the Darrells and in 1589, to their kinsmen the Pophams, who held the property until 1922. The fine red-brick house dates largely from the Tudor period, with a medieval core.

Darrell was a diligent landowner, farming his estate progressively and probably constructing the handsome Long Gallery on the north front; its elaborate frieze incorporates the Darrell lion rampant. However, it was his successor who found time to remodel the house on a grander scale before his death in 1607. Besides presiding over the trials of Sir Walter Raleigh and Guy Fawkes as Lord Chief Justice, Popham added the symmetrical south front, giving a semblance of unity to the straggling medieval complex behind. His Great Hall, with its simplified fanvaulting, twin-arched screen, English and Flemish stained glass and grey and white marble floor, is one of the most complete examples of its kind in the country and no doubt provided an appropriate setting for Queen Elizabeth´s visit 1601.It was at Littlecote, that an exceptional collection of the seventeenth century armour and weapons hung. Both Sir John Popham´s son Sir Francis and his two grandsons sided with Parliament during the Civil War. Colonel Alexander Popham commanded a regiment whose buff tunics are a unique survival since the destruction by fire of the Warwick Castle armoury. He was on the Council of State when the Commonwealth came to an end and shortly afterwards received the King´s Pardon, entertaining Charles II on his Royal Progress from London to Bath with a ´costly dinner´ at Littlecote. The house once again entered into the history of the nation in 1688, when William of Orange stayed there on the journey with his expeditionary forces from Brixham to London. The Chapel was a rare seventeenth century survival. The pulpit stands where the altar is usually placed and there is a gallery on three sides, in line with contemporary liturgical practice.

Littlecote had also provided the setting for more informal pursuits. It is said that Henry VIII courted Jane Seymour, a Darrell relation, on the estate. The Pophams employed the services of a jester as late as 1673. The Dutch Parlour, decorated in the early eighteenth century with genre, literary and allegorical paintings in trompe lóeil, was probably used for smoking and is a room of charming distinction. The addition in the Georgian period of a drawing room, library and conservatory added to the comforts of the house. The latter was converted into a swimming pool by Sir Ernest Salter Wills, 3^rd baronet, who acquired Littlecote with most of its contents in 1922 and whose family lived there until 1985.