A GAME PARK TAPESTRY, SOUTHERN NETHERLANDS, PROBABLY BRUSSELS, LATE 16TH/EARLY 17TH CENTURY

Probably Rose Berkeley (1861-1922)

These small figure designs of Game Park tapestries were woven throughout northern Europe by this date and were woven by Southern Netherlandish weavers, including anonymous weavers in London, Frans Spiering who relocated from Antwerp to the northern Netherlands, and there were others in Brussels, Enghien and Oudenaarde. They often had elaborate deep borders, incorporating allegorical figures in architectural niches, alternating with fruit and flowers. The quality of the weave varied from one weaving centre to the other. The subjects could be mythological or secular. With the importance of garden design at this time, they were often depicted as formal arrangements in these landscape settings with the elegantly dressed figures in the foreground. For an example of a Game Park tapestry of similar quality of weave and attention to detail, see a Classical subject of 'Pluto and Proserpina with Falconry', woven in Brussels, circa 1600, under the direction of Erasmus I de Pannemaker, based on a design by Adriaen Collaert (1560-1618), after Hans Bol (1534-1593), within an especially detailed border, in the Art Institute of Chicago (384 by 345cm: Inv.1896.148)