An Italian armorial tapestry, Grand-Ducal Workshops, Florence, with the Medici coat-of-arms, mid-17th century

Baron Ribeyre & Associes, Paris, 6 December 2013, lot 301.

The present belongs to a small group of tapestries with the coat-of-arms of the Medici family. The centre of manufacture for these tapestries was no other than the Medici grand-ducal workshop, the so-called Arazzerie Medicee. Between 1545-6, Cosimo I de’ Medici founded two tapestry workshops in Florence and employed two Flemish master weavers – Nicholas Karcher and Jan Rost – to run each one. Although the weavers were free to produce tapestries for other clients, they predominantly served the duke, creating a number of exceptional artworks. Besides the obvious advantage of having direct control over the production, the workshops would consolidate Florence’s position in the international tapestry market and the Medici's position as a key player in the European political field. The cartoons for the tapestries were often created by leading artists of the time.

Since tapestries were the preeminent decorative art form in the courts of Europe from the Gothic period onward, they were significantly expensive, and those including coat-of-arms were used as propaganda and often given as lavish gifts. They were usually intended as portières, characteristically long and slender tapestries, designed to fit the shape of a doorway or a tall, narrow wall space. 

Armorial tapestries within the aforementioned group can be divided in two categories: those including the Medici coat-of-arms by itself, and those including two coats-of-arms, the Medici one with another corresponding to the spouse, thus commemorating a marriage. H. Göbel illustrates the armorial portieres with the arms of the Ferdinando I, third grand-duke of Tuscany (1549-1609), quartered with those of his consort, Cristina di Lorena, as well as portieres with the arms of Francesco I, second grand-duke of Tuscany and his consort Archduchess Joanna of Austria (in Die Wandteppiche, 1928, Part II, Vol.i, abb.383 and Vol.II, abb.381-386). The Medici-Lorena portières, after a design by Alessandro Allori (1535-1607) and from the workshops of Guasparri di Bartolommeo Papini (1535-1607), were probably commissioned to commemorate their marriage in 1589. Other examples from this commission were sold at Sotheby’s, Milan, 20-21 December 2005, lot 287 and at Sotheby’s, London, Berhnheimer, 25 November 2015, lot 349.

When grand-duke Ferdinando died in 1609, he was succeeded by his son Cosimo II (1590-1621), who himself was then succeeded by Ferdinand II (1621-1670). During his reign between 1621 and 1670, Ferdinand II continued the commission of tapestries with his family’s coat-of-arms. Tapestries from this period with similar foliate and fruiting wreaths above an architectural plinth are recorded in Italian collections, one at the Museo Nazionale di Palazzo Reale in Pisa (inv. 917- 918), one at Palazzo Pitti, Florence (inv. nr. Arazzi 344) and one from the Palazzo dell'Arte dei Beccai, now on loan to Accademia delle Arti del Disegno. A related example was also sold at Christie’s, London, The Duarte Pinto Coelho Collection, 21 July 2011, lot 581.