Object Type
Leather hangings were mostly used in the dining rooms of the well-to-do. Hangings of leather were preferable to textiles, as they did not retain the smell of food. Fruit and flowers were thought a suitable subject for such a room.
Material & Making
Silver leaf was applied to one side of the leather, which was then embossed and painted with red and green glazes (varnishes). Finally, an overall yellow glaze was applied to the light grey background. Holes at the edges, and the lighter pigment of the border, suggest that the panels were slightly overlapped when nailed to the walls.
Place
Holland, particularly, Amsterdam, was famous for the making of gilt-leather hangings. The most important manufacturer, the Compagnie van Goudleermaken (Company of Gilt Leathermakers), was established in 1641 and continued till about 1700.
Physical description
Embossed gilt leather panel with three human figures between foliage and two quarters of a feston. The embossed pattern consists of swags of scrolling foliage, tulips, roses, sunflowers and other flowers, grapes, pomegranates, berries, melons, pears, plums and other fruit, amid which are Bacchus, Ceres and a third unidentified human figure, and a bird pecking fruit above his head. Painted in a red- and dark green-glaze on a light green ground. The pattern is called the' Bacchus & Ceres' plate.
Place of Origin
Amsterdam, Holland (probably, made)
Date
ca. 1670 (made)
Artist/maker
Heuvel, Martinus van den (the younger) (probably, maker)
Materials and Techniques
Embossed and gilded leather
Dimensions
Height: 86 cm, Width: 69 cm
Object history note
Probably manufactured by Martinus van den Heuvel the younger (active 1640-1680), owner of the gilt leather firm, Compagnie van Goudleermaken, in Amsterdam.
Identical panels: V&A, museum numbers 478-1869 and W67-1911; Kunstgewerbemuseum, Dresden, inventory number 6862; Deutsches Tapetenmuseum, Kassel, inventory number 88/88; Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, inventory number RBK 18249; wall hanging in the castle of Humbeek (Belgium); V&A Museum, inventory number 478-1869 and W38-1974 (from Dyrham Park).
This panel has been analysed as part of the gilt leather cataloguing project in 1996. Eloy Koldeweij, October 1996.
Descriptive line
Embossed gilt leather panel with three human figures between foliage and two quarters of a feston. Painted in a red- and dark green-glaze on a light green ground. The pattern is called the 'Bacchus & Ceres' plate, Martinus van den Heuvel (the younger), Amsterdam, ca. 1670.
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
E. Koldeweij, 'The marketing of gilt leather in seventeenth-century Holland', Print Quarterly, XIII, 1996 no. 2, 136-148, fig. 93. & footnote 10.
Labels and date
British Galleries:
Such panels were used like wallpaper (see photograph). They were brightly coloured and richly textured with Restoration motifs. They were often used for dining-rooms, as leather did not absorb food smells. [27/03/2003]
Materials
Leather
Techniques
Gilding; Embossing
Categories
Interiors; Wall coverings; Leather
Collection code
FWK
