Classic Design: Furniture, Silver, Ceramics & Clocks

Classic Design: Furniture, Silver, Ceramics & Clocks

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 22. A French Allegorical Months Tapestry, 'January', from the series 'The Months of Lucas', Gobelins manufactory, workshop under direction of Michel Audran (1701-1771), woven circa 1732-1737, after designs by the Master of the Months of Lucas (Netherlands, circa 1535).

Property from an Important English Private Collection

A French Allegorical Months Tapestry, 'January', from the series 'The Months of Lucas', Gobelins manufactory, workshop under direction of Michel Audran (1701-1771), woven circa 1732-1737, after designs by the Master of the Months of Lucas (Netherlands, circa 1535)

UK: Greenford Park Warehouse

Lot Closed

November 8, 02:22 PM GMT

Estimate

15,000 - 20,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

Property from an Important English Private Collection

A French Allegorical Months Tapestry, 'January', from the series 'The Months of Lucas', Gobelins manufactory, workshop under direction of Michel Audran (1701-1771), woven circa 1732-1737, after designs by the Master of the Months of Lucas (Netherlands, circa 1535)


with additions and alterations to the design around 1721 by Joseph Yvart (1649-1728), other designers possibly Charles Chastelain (1672-1755) and Louis de Boulogne the younger (1654-1733);


Woven depicting a warm and well lit interior feasting scene, with various groups of figures and some couples dancing, with a small dog, symbolic of fidelity between them, against a richly decorated background Janus, the two faced god of the new year or of the past and of the future stands behind the food covered table, underneath the canopy, within an elaborate frame pattern border with strapwork encased bold blue cabochon with golden flower heads in each corner and pink ribbon entwined flowering and fruiting groups, the centre of each border with a repeat pattern decorated entablature, with original vertical pale blue selvedges, later horizontal selvedges

Approximately 358cm high, 327cm wide; 11ft, 7in., 10ft. 7in.

Mme. Masselin, sale, Christie's, London, 19 May 1994, lot 374.
Eugène Müntz, La Tapisserie, Paris, 1882, p.221.

The twelve months were a popular subject in tapestries of the 16th and 17th centuries. The months were represented by the labours of men and women appropriate to the time of year. January was often felling trees for warmth or feasting. The months were often associated with a sign of the zodiac and a pagan divinity. The labours and the zodiac sign together represented the earthly and heavenly cycle of the year. The Zodiac signs were usually incorporated intothe borders or the very top within the sky of the main panel. The zodiac sign for January, is Aquarius (the water carrier), a representation of which is seen in a cabochon in the centre of the upper border of the present tapestry. The series were therefore usually sets of twelve. 


There is a comparable weaving of this panel from the series commissioned for Comte de Toulouse (1732-1737), with borders designed by Pierre Josse Perrot (active 1724-1735), in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (Inv. 44.60.1). The borders show similar inspiration in design, and include the same water carrier motif against blue, in the lower border. A print of the subject, Allegory of the Month of January, by the Master of the Luke, circa 1525, showing the main subject without the border design, is recorded in A Private Collection, Chatsworth House (Inv. 1203).