Le Fôret Sauvage', A Flemish Large Leaf Verdure Tapestry, probably Oudenaarde second half 16th century

woven with pack of wild animals and their prey across the foreground submerged under large leaves, with birds perched amongst the foliage and distant woodland and meandering riverbank; lacking border, with later green and cream banded selvedge

Fragment of a larger tapestry. Colours faded evenly overall. Evidence of original colouring such as pale yellow in sky. Some repairs and repairs, to light areas including highlights of foligage and browns of animals, commensurate with age. Reweaving to brown of background. Tapestry is lined with old linen. Old machine selvedge in cream and sage green. No Velcro, no hoops or hooks for hanging. Wooden batten - which should be removed and replaced. We would recommend Velcro added for future hanging purposes. Decorative panel of versatile size. With charming details and lovely early weaving technique.
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For two similar tapestry panels without borders, see Edith Appleton Standen, European Post-Medieval Tapestries in the Metropolitan Museum, 1985, Vol. I, pp.185-186, with deer and lions respectively. A comparable panel was sold at Sotheby's, London, 29th February 1996, lot 13, from The Vigo Sternberg Collection, depicting lions hunting an ostrich, and within a distinctive floral border with pots of irises in each corner, on a sable ground.