Lot 151
  • 151

'THE PETITION' (LES PLACETS), A FRENCH CLASSICAL TAPESTRY, FROM THE STORY OF QUEEN ARTEMISIA, AFTER DESIGNS BY ANTOINE CARON (B. 1521, D. 1599), AND CARTOON BY LAURENT GUYOT, FAUBOURG SAINT-MARCEL MANUFACTORY, WORKSHOP OF MARC DE COMANS AND FRANCOIS DE LA PLANCHE, PARIS, FRANCE, CIRCA 1611-1627 |

Estimate
12,000 - 18,000 GBP
bidding is closed

Description

  • approximately 333cm high, 197cm wide; 10ft. 11in., 6ft. 5in.
woven in wool and silk, with extensive metal-thread highlights, depicting Queen Artemisia and her son Lygdamis with a delegation of envoys in an architectural colonnaded portico setting with gold applique decorations, Lygdamis is shown as a young boy in classical military attire and a crown, listening to the petitions being read to him by a crouching bearded old man, with Queen Artemisia, dressed in royal robes and a tiara, looks on while being handed a petition by another envoy, and a third envoy with a shovel over his left shoulder gazes towards the queen, and the petitions that have already been heard are scattered on the floor between Lygdamis and the first envoy, while others are kept in a wooden box in the lower left corner, within a four-sided banded border, woven with the workshop mark of the motif of a single berried three leafed laurel sprig, in the right hand vertical selvedge

Provenance

Dorotheum, Orientteppiche, Textilien und Tappisserien, 8 September 2011, lot 98.

Condition

Overall measurements: 197cm across the top, 187cm across the bottom, 333cm along the left side, 331cm along the right side. Tapestry is lined, with hessian band and hoops. Recommend Velcro to be added to the top edge for hanging purposes in the future. Lower section of banded border is later. Small horizontal split between border and main field, as visible in the photograph. Area of rewoven repair centre of top of architectural columned section, as visible in the photograph. Some areas of dark brown oxidised, as visible in the photograph. Some areas of dark brown rewoven- see between columns in areas. Some of light colours rewoven, for example internal sections of windows and doorways in colonnade, and minor highlights in areas of costume. Overall stable condition. Large amount of metal thread used, in details overall. Some silver thread tarnished, commensurate with metal and age. Good size, finely woven with high metal thread content being especially unusual. It is an interesting historical piece.
"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."

Catalogue Note

This tapestry is based on an Antoine Caron drawing from 1563-70, and the Nicolas Houel (b.1524, d.1587) sonnet modelled after Catherine de’ Medici who ruled France in the mid-16th century. Although lacking a border, this particular piece is from the second series and has fine silk and metal thread detailing. The workshop mark of a flower woven in lower right selvedge suggests it was produced in the pre-Gobelins workshop of Marc de Comans and Francois de la Planche in the Faubourg Saint-Marcel workshop. The scenes from the story of Queen Artemisia were among one of the most popular of all 17th century French tapestry series. The complete story is made into forty-four panels that can broadly be divided into two series based on subjects depicted. The first series is made-up of panels showing the grandiose ceremonies from King Mausolus’s funeral and the second series, from which this offered panel is a part, focusses on the wise rule of the Regent and the education of her son. There are known to have been approximately two-hundred and fifty or more pieces from this series woven, of which only a little more than one hundred tapestries still remain. The written inspiration for this tapestry series comes from a Renaissance epic titled Histoire de la Reine Arthemise (History of Queen Artemisia) composed by a wealthy Parisian apothecary Nicolas Houel in about 1561-1562. An art collector and amateur poet, Houel observed Queen Catherine de’ Medici’s rise to power, and hoping to win her favour, he decided to create for her a classical alter ego. The composite character of Queen Artemisia of Caria was derived from the stories of two ancient queens of Caria named Artemisia (if the Aegean coast of modern-day Turkey). Artemisia I was the mother of Lygdamis, Xerxes’s ally against the Greeks and fought in the battle of Salamis in 480 BC. The second, and main inspiration for the epic, was Artemisia II, who in 353 BC built one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world, an elaborate Mausoleum constructed in the memory of her loving husband Mausolus in her capital city of Halicarnassus. Houel wrote his epic ostensibly about the ancient queen Artemisia, using episodes in his story to create parallels with the then French Queen Regent, emblematically glorifying Catherine in art and literature. Catherine was pleased with this prose, as it demonstrated her devotion to her husband and her capabilities to àrule successfully, and her adopting this alter-ego effectively became an attempt to overcome the economic and religious turmoil of 16th century France.

On her order, from 1563 to 1570, Houel composed this story into sonnets and Antoine Caron, the prominent French illustrator and northern mannerist artist from the School of Fontainebleau, and other prominent Italian and French artists from the period illustrated designs for scene in the story with beautiful decorative borders suitable for transposition into tapestry, together producing a total of seventy-five different subjects from the series.

The later 16th century saw a decline in French tapestry making due to the Wars of Religion. King Henry IV’s attempted revival of the technique at the very beginning of the 17th century, and the Artemisia series were the first to be woven, much in keeping with the trend to glorify ‘strong women from antiquity’. In 1601 King Henry IV invited two Flemish master weavers Marc der Comans and Frans Van der Plancken to come to Paris and weave in their Flemish-style (banning the import of foreign tapestries with forest scenes and verdure tapestries to support the two weavers). Adopting French versions of their names, Marc de Comans and Francois de la Planche started separate workshops in Faubourg Saint-Antoine, but soon after they were securely established in Faubourg Saint-Marcel. By 1607 the King granted them a fifteen year monopoly on all low-warp tapestry weaving and sales in France. Thus the majority of Artemisia tapestries known today were made by the workshop of Marc de Comans and Francois de la Planche in Faubourg Saint-Marcel. In fact, this series was so immensely popular at Faubourg Saint-Marcel that in their 1627 inventory, the workshop had seventy-eight Artemisia tapestries on their looms or in their warehouse, and an additional twenty-four cartoons from the series in storage.

Two other version of this scene, from two other series of the Queen Artemisia tapestries based on the original drawing by Caron, can be found in the Louvre (Paris) and at the Timken Museum (San Diego) respectively. Interestingly, all three were produced in the Faubourg Saint-Marcel workshops of Marc de Comans and Francois de la Planche, but none of the three tapestries use the Caron drawing in its entirely and choose to reduce it to different sizes (another reason given for the popularity of this series was that the scene could be altered to any dimensions required and would thus be suitable for any setting). The version in the Louvre has a decorative border in very much the Fontainebleau style of cut leather motifs but also features cartouches in monochrome, a trend popular in the tapestry borders of the first half of the 17th century. This version has a larger visual field and thus has additional figures. On the left, it shows Artemisia twisting her left hand behind her back and heads of a lady and a bearded man appear over her shoulder. On the right is a man dressed in military attire with a wreath over his head, a sword in his left hand, handing a petition over to the envoy closer to the queen. Over his shoulder are two women standing on top of a short flight of stairs, pointing and looking towards the reading of petitions. In addition, unlike the other two versions, the Louvre example has trees and sky in the top right quadrant but the wooden casket used for storing petitions placed at the feet of Lygdamis has been omitted from this weaving. The version in Timken Museum of San Diego is comparatively closer to the version offered for sale here. Although it is not as wide as the Louvre example (possibly also an entre-fenêtre), it does show Artemisia’s arm tucked behind her back on the left along with only one female head over her shoulder and towards the right it depicts only the man in military attire and the wreath. This version has an ornate border only on the top and bottom edges with the ducal arms of Emanuel of Savoy and monogram of Artemisia and Mausolus on the top and bottom panel respectively. Interestingly the version offered for sale shows more lavish use of metallic threads than the other two. The Louvre example does not have any metallic thread and while the Timken Museum example makes use of silver-gilt thread, it is used sparingly. This difference is most starkly noticeable in the colonnade in the background. A handful of narrow pieces, with the arms of Savoy are known, of which four are in the Timken Art Gallery, two owned by the city of Paris, and one in a private collection, all from a set acquired by Duke Carlo Emanuele I of Savoy between 1615-1620, of which others in the set are in public or private collections.

For a set of eight metal-thread tapestries of the series, woven for Henri IV, woven pre 1610 Faubourg, after Henri Lerambert and Laurent Guyot, the borders with royal arms, emblems and monograms, and with the fleur-de-lys and Paris factory mark, and unidentified mark FM, from the property of the Hon. Philip Howard (by descent from the 4th Earl of Carlisle, Castle Howard, by 1759), see Sotheby’s, London, 7 July 1999, lots 32-39.

For a mid-17th century French weaving, depicting Artemisia and attendants inspecting the plans for her late husband Mausolus' memorial, within a scrolling acanthus border, see Christie's, London, 3 November 2016, lot 218. Sotheby's, London, 26 October 2016, lot 1236, offered a Flemish Artemisia tapestry with an 'Elements' border.

For comprehensive discussion of this distinctive tapestry series and variations of the subject, see Candace J. Adelson, European Tapestry in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, New York, 1994, Chp. 16, Ten tapestries from the series Stories of Queen Artemisia, pp.161-288.