A Flemish Game Park Tapestry, probably Oudenaarde late 16th century

woven with wild animals including a lion attacking a horse, and a boar in the foreground plane, with figures involved with hunting within a woodland, in the background, with distant hamlet buildings, all within a four-sided allegorical and floral border, with narrow inner and outer borders

The tapestry has a linen lining on all four-edges, and in vertical strips across the width of the tapestry, alternating with strips that are unlined. There are old hook attached across the top and it is recommended that Velcro should be used for hanging in the future. The outer blue selvedge is later. There are some finely woven and charming details overall, within the foreground, the boar and lion are particularly well depicted, the background crow stepped gables in distant villages, and to details in the border. The inner and outer narrow borders are original. It is faded in colour overall. Generally balanced colour overall. Faded colours are evident, as the original saffron yellow and other colours are visible where the lining is loose along one section of the lower edge (which can be repaired), and in the exposed unlined vertical panels at at bhe back, which show the original brighter colours. There are some repairs in small areas overall, especially as pink and red highlights, to the boar and nose of lion, and other small areas such as outlines, for example to hat of figure in background, and to fruit and flowers within the strapwork in the borders. Area of reweaving visible as lighter vertical strip to right of the lion, which extends up the trunk of the tree (visible in the photograph). Evidence of beautiful early weaving technique. Balanced composition. This tapestry is evocative of it's type and the late 16th century weaving tradition.
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This genre of Game Park, which by definition includes within the main field groupings of people participating in hunting pursuits and activities (sometimes representing mythological personifications) within woodland settings with variety of tress types including palms, and with distinctive inclusion of animals and including exotic and wild animals, is characteristic of the second half of the 16^th century. This particular style of composition represented by the present panel, was woven with variations in detailing and accuracy and with notably different border types, from several weaving centres including the Flemish such as Enghien, Oudenaarde and Brussels. There is a comparable example which has the Oudenaarde town mark and an unidentifiable weaver's mark, sold Sotheby's, London, 20^th May 1994, lot 12, Provenance: von Buttlar Collection, Scholss Windern, 1958, which is considered to depict the Hunt of the Calydonian Boar in the background (also illustrated in I. De Meuter, Tapisseries d'Audenarde du XVI au XVIII Siècle, Exhibition Catalogue, 1999, pg.134).

For examples of Flemish tapestries with the similar balanced compositional layering of animals, figural relief, woodland and distant landscape and small hamlet buildings, and representation of the lion, see a Game Park tapestry, circa 1570-1580, with a border of strapwork, and groupings of fruit and flowers, and small figures and masks motifs (298 by 510cm), considered to be of Enghien manufacture, see Nello Forti Grazzini, Il Patrimonio Artistico del Quirinale, Rome, 1994, Vol.II, no.120, pp.329-330. There are also two smaller panels, from the same Italian collection, ibid.,no.121-122, pp.331-333, proposed to date from 1575-1600, of Oudenaarde manufacture, with large animals in the foreground plan and with elaborate borders with architectural niches and inclusion of allegorical figures and small masks.  For various examples of Game Park and Wild Park tapestries, considered to be Oudenaarde of this period, some of which are set within elaborate colonnade architectural surrounds, and then further four-sided borders, see De Meuter, Tapisseries d'Audenarde du XVI au XVIII Siècle, opcit., where there are examples with similarly depicted animals as in the present panels, such as the lion attacking a horse, and inclusion of boars, see an interesting and particularly finely woven tapestry panel of a Game Park tapestry, Oudenaarde, circa 1560-1600, albeit within a more elaborate and figural border, ibid.,pp.141.

Similar types of tapestry panel have appeared at auction, including for example a piece catalogued as Flemish, which has a similar border type with small groupings, and the narrow inner and outer borders, Sotheby's, London, 14^th October 1983, lot 10. The inclusion of the attacking lion is depicted in two panels, Sotheby's, London, 25^th May 1990, lot 11, and Sotheby's, London, 7^th May 1976, lot 54, in which the lion attacks a boar in both panels, and another panel, Sotheby's, London, 25^th May, 1994, lot 17, shows the lion attacking a deer.