Wall Panel

ca. 1710 (made)
Place of origin

This panel is one of a set of four that were made in about 1710 for display as wall hangings. The workmanship is French, but they came from Russia, and may have been made in St Petersburg by French embroiderers to cater for the deeply Francophile taste of the Russian court in this period. They have a design of exotic foliage similar to that seen in contemporary silk dress fabrics, among which are scattered small scenes. These include still lives with fruit and blue and white porcelain, garden statues and urns in the style of those used to ornament Versailles, and genre figures based on the paintings and tapestry designs of the Flemish artist David Teniers the Younger (1610-90).

Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Canvas embroidered with wool, silk, silk chenille and silver gilt thread
Brief description
Wall panel, embroidered canvas, French, ca.1710
Physical description
Wall panel of canvas embroidered with wool, silk and silk chenille in tent, Hungarian, stem and canvas stitches with laid and couched work. The ground is covered with silver gilt thread laid and couched in whorls. Exotic foliage, comparable to contemporary bizarre silk designs, encloses a series of still life and pastoral scenes based on a variety of sources. The figures carrying an urn in the upper right are taken from The Triumph of Alexander tapestry by Le Brun.

Object history
The panels were formerly in the collection of Miss Matilda Marks who bought them from Redfords of Mount Street. A former partner in the firm had bought them from the Russian agency, Argos, in Paris before the war; they were then said to have come from the Hermitage.
Production
possibly made by French embroiderers in St. Petersburg
Summary
This panel is one of a set of four that were made in about 1710 for display as wall hangings. The workmanship is French, but they came from Russia, and may have been made in St Petersburg by French embroiderers to cater for the deeply Francophile taste of the Russian court in this period. They have a design of exotic foliage similar to that seen in contemporary silk dress fabrics, among which are scattered small scenes. These include still lives with fruit and blue and white porcelain, garden statues and urns in the style of those used to ornament Versailles, and genre figures based on the paintings and tapestry designs of the Flemish artist David Teniers the Younger (1610-90).
Collection
Accession number
T.389-1976

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Record createdOctober 17, 2005
Record URL
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