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Tapestry

1758 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Wool and silk tapestry depicting in the left foreground, a rocky landscape with pols of water and little waterfalls. A woman with a jar sits by one of the nearer pools, and further back a man is fishing. In the middle distance a man with a staff herds a laden camel and two goats in front of classocal ruins with Corinthian capitals. The main building is the 'samll temple' at Palmyra, taken from plate XXXI in Robert Wood's 'Ruins of Palmyra' published in 1753.

At the right is a large ruined building with Corithian columns and in front a large urn on a plinth on which is the date 1758. In the lower corner, in capital letters woven in yellow wool - P. SAUNDERS SOHO. At the foot of the plinth reclines a woman in a pink cloak, near a young girl wearing a blue tunic. To the left og them, a man on horseback rides away from the viewer. Smaller figures are in the middle and far distance at the centre of the tapestry, two of them walking towards a city.

Part of a set of eight tapestries originally made for the Tapestry Drawing Room at Northumbeland House, which was demolished in 1874.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
wool and silk on woollen 3-ply warp. Warp 20-22 to inch.
Brief description
Wool and silk tapestry, 'Ruins of Palmyra', designed by F. Zuccarelli for Paul Saunders, England, 1758
Physical description
Wool and silk tapestry depicting in the left foreground, a rocky landscape with pols of water and little waterfalls. A woman with a jar sits by one of the nearer pools, and further back a man is fishing. In the middle distance a man with a staff herds a laden camel and two goats in front of classocal ruins with Corinthian capitals. The main building is the 'samll temple' at Palmyra, taken from plate XXXI in Robert Wood's 'Ruins of Palmyra' published in 1753.

At the right is a large ruined building with Corithian columns and in front a large urn on a plinth on which is the date 1758. In the lower corner, in capital letters woven in yellow wool - P. SAUNDERS SOHO. At the foot of the plinth reclines a woman in a pink cloak, near a young girl wearing a blue tunic. To the left og them, a man on horseback rides away from the viewer. Smaller figures are in the middle and far distance at the centre of the tapestry, two of them walking towards a city.

Part of a set of eight tapestries originally made for the Tapestry Drawing Room at Northumbeland House, which was demolished in 1874.
Dimensions
  • Top edge width: 552cm
  • Bottom edge width: 547cm
  • Left side height: 300cm
  • Right side height: 299cm
  • Weight: 39kg
Weight including roller
Marks and inscriptions
'P. SAUNDERS SOHO' (Woven in yellow wool in capital letters in the lower corner)
Bibliographic references
  • Wendy Hefford, Tapestries by Zuccarelli and Paul Saunders: dating and design sources, in: Bulletin du CIETA, 72, 1994, pp. 80-88.
  • Exhibited at the V&A in 1980 in Tapestries for the Nation: Acquisitions 1970-1980
Collection
Accession number
T.173-1980

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Record createdJune 24, 2009
Record URL
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