DOI issue:
Nr. 343 (December 1925)
DOI article:Baxter, Leonora R.: Art in everyday live
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19986#0229
RARE FIFTEENTH CENTURY ARRAS TAPESTRY
Courtesy of Seidlitz & Van Baarn
the deck is fitted with finely carved and ornamented im-
pedimenta: old bronze cannon on wooden trucks, carved
figures of men in costume of the day, many gunners and
seamen. The Navigating Officer is striking the sun with
the old staff which was obsolete after 1700, and the gun-
ners are using the Wheelock hand gun. The model is made
of old ship timber, and is in full sail, bedecked with many
flags of the period. It measures sixty-eight inches in length,
and sixty-one in height. It is all there, in miniature, save
the lively plumed Knights of long ago.
Tapestry has been called "textile painting," and is the
earliest known art of the world. Incidentally it is especially
interesting to note that the technique of tapestry weaving
as described by the ancients, is absolutely identical to that
used today. Egyptians made use of the process several
thousand years B. C, and the first recorded tapestry is
the "Cartouche of Thoutmosis III," woven about 1440,
B. C, now exhibited in the Cairo Museum. The Old
Testament contains many references to tapestry, and all
ancient writers mention it. The Veil of the Temple of
Jerusalem and the Ten Curtains of the Tabernacle, repre-
sented the weaver's art and were among the most magnifi-
cent hangings of the time. As to intrinsic worth, Pliny
the Elder narrates that a set of tapestries made in 46
B. C. was sold to Nero for the rather staggering sum of
two million sesterces (two million dollars). And last, the
historic value of tapestry can scarcely be overestimated,
since from the beginning of time its colorful meshes have
faithfully recorded many intimate and illuminating phases
of civilization, which might otherwise have been lost.
Pictured here is an important Arros example of the late
Fifteenth Century, exhibited by Seidlitz & Van Baarn,
Inc., and recently sold by them to a prominent citizen of
Evanston. It measures seven by eight feet, and depicts
the Three Muses, conducting a musical recital. We see
Melpomene, the singing Muse of Harmony; Cleo, the Muse
of History; and Polymnea, the idol of Devotius Cantates.
In the background is Musagetes, the guide of the Muses;
and Hymeros, gazing toward Parnassus. Old Venice was
the place where melodramatic operatic music had its in-
ception, and it was during the time of Julius II that all
music teachers were "kyriakonists," and here we find the
origin of the story of this rare and beautiful tapestry, which
was created to adorn a place of public musical teaching.
Address inquiries to International Studio Service, HQ West
401b Street.
DECEMBER I92{
two twenty-nine
Courtesy of Seidlitz & Van Baarn
the deck is fitted with finely carved and ornamented im-
pedimenta: old bronze cannon on wooden trucks, carved
figures of men in costume of the day, many gunners and
seamen. The Navigating Officer is striking the sun with
the old staff which was obsolete after 1700, and the gun-
ners are using the Wheelock hand gun. The model is made
of old ship timber, and is in full sail, bedecked with many
flags of the period. It measures sixty-eight inches in length,
and sixty-one in height. It is all there, in miniature, save
the lively plumed Knights of long ago.
Tapestry has been called "textile painting," and is the
earliest known art of the world. Incidentally it is especially
interesting to note that the technique of tapestry weaving
as described by the ancients, is absolutely identical to that
used today. Egyptians made use of the process several
thousand years B. C, and the first recorded tapestry is
the "Cartouche of Thoutmosis III," woven about 1440,
B. C, now exhibited in the Cairo Museum. The Old
Testament contains many references to tapestry, and all
ancient writers mention it. The Veil of the Temple of
Jerusalem and the Ten Curtains of the Tabernacle, repre-
sented the weaver's art and were among the most magnifi-
cent hangings of the time. As to intrinsic worth, Pliny
the Elder narrates that a set of tapestries made in 46
B. C. was sold to Nero for the rather staggering sum of
two million sesterces (two million dollars). And last, the
historic value of tapestry can scarcely be overestimated,
since from the beginning of time its colorful meshes have
faithfully recorded many intimate and illuminating phases
of civilization, which might otherwise have been lost.
Pictured here is an important Arros example of the late
Fifteenth Century, exhibited by Seidlitz & Van Baarn,
Inc., and recently sold by them to a prominent citizen of
Evanston. It measures seven by eight feet, and depicts
the Three Muses, conducting a musical recital. We see
Melpomene, the singing Muse of Harmony; Cleo, the Muse
of History; and Polymnea, the idol of Devotius Cantates.
In the background is Musagetes, the guide of the Muses;
and Hymeros, gazing toward Parnassus. Old Venice was
the place where melodramatic operatic music had its in-
ception, and it was during the time of Julius II that all
music teachers were "kyriakonists," and here we find the
origin of the story of this rare and beautiful tapestry, which
was created to adorn a place of public musical teaching.
Address inquiries to International Studio Service, HQ West
401b Street.
DECEMBER I92{
two twenty-nine