1710~, France

1710~, France

Identifier
T.389-1976
Collection
Material
Technique
Depiction
Production time
Production place
Type of object

Description

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). Wall panel, embroidered canvas, French, ca.1710 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.