The Miraculous Draft of Fishes, A Flemish New Testament Biblical Tapestry, from The Acts of the Apostles, Oudenaarde late 16th century

woven with the standing figure of Christ having travelled aboard Peter’s, to preach to the people from the shore of the Sea of Galilee, and showing James and John helping to bring in the unexpected catch, and Andrew is shown with his arms up in amazement, and Peter is shown clambering from the boat to the shore to approach Christ (John 21:1-8), all within a four-sided elaborate border with pendant bow tied swags and sculptural corbels and corner vases of flowers in the side borders and bow tied floral and foliate swags hanging from bosses attached to a balustrade across the lower and upper borders, and centred by a blue cabochon with floral wreath within sculptural surrounds, with a blue outer selvedge  

In the Old Testament it is recorded that Christ advised Peter and his companions to lower their fishing nets and to their astonishment their nets were filled. Christ said `Do not be afraid, from now on you will be catching men’ (Luke 5:1-11). In John’s gospel (John 21:1-8) this episode is placed after the crucifixion and is recorded as one of the appearances of Christ, and in this version, which is somewhat rare in art, the figure of Christ the saviour is standing on the shore and not in the boat, which is the usual representation. The cartoons for tapestries, designed by Raphael (1514-1516), and woven into a series of tapestries pre 1557 by three Brussels workshops including that of Jan van Tieghem, for the Vatican in Rome of The Acts of the Apostles, depict the Apostles in the boats, including the seated figure of Christ. In later versions Christ is shown walking upon the water.  

See Sharon Fermor, The Raphael Tapestry Cartoons, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, 1996, for discussion of this particularly well known interpretation of the subject of the Acts of the Apostles and including The Miraculous Draft of Fishes, the cartoon of which is in this museum along with a later English Mortlake weaving of the same subject.

See also I. De Meuter, Tapisseries d’Audenarde du XVI au XVIII Siècle, 1999, pp.199-200 for discussion and illustrations of Oudenaarde Tapetries of The Acts of the Apostles, and a particular weaving of The Christians bringing gifts to the Apostles, second quarter 17^th century, from the Collection of French & Company, New York, which has a similar compositional balance with regard to the size of the figures and an equally deep border, with the similar use of a vessel from which the side swags hang above, all held with tied bows and swags across the top and bottom, although the border on the offered lot is particularly elaborate.

Emöke Làszlò, Flemish and French Tapestries in Hungary, 1981, pp.50-54, figs.83-85, illustrates two Oudenaarde tapestries of the same date, from the Christian Museum, Esztergom, one depicting St Paul on the island of Malta, which has a virtually identical border to that of the offered lot, including the unusual balustrade, and another Biblical tapestry, Oudenaarde, late 16^th century, depicting Moses crossing the Red Sea, which has a similar border