A Flemish Landscape Tapestry with Birds, probably Oudenaarde early 18th century

woven with a landscape setting, incorporating exotic birds and exuberant flowering plancts in the foreground of a formal garden with fountains and formal hedging and avenues of trees extending into the distance, with a large tree flanking the composition on the left, with small bird perched on branch a flying birds in the sky above, lacking border, woven with later narrow banded yellow and blue selvedge

Colours richer in reality, crisper and more defined in appearance. Still original blue to sky, not faded. Fragment of once larger tapestry, reduced in height and width. The overall composition is balanced in appearance. Old repairs to vertical fold up the centre. There are areas of reweaving, for example to the feathers of the birds. Later outer border and selvedge. Pale blue cotton lining. Hessian across the top with hoops. Recommend that Velcro should be added for hanging purposes in the future. In good professional restored condition. Decorative panel of a versatile size.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

For discussion of Landscapes with birds and other animals see I. De Meuter, Tapisseries d’Audenarde du XVI au XVIII Siècle, 1999, pp.209-218. It includes tapestries of a comparable design style, of a rare documented Oudenaarde series of `Park Landscapes with Birds’, from the Town Hall, Maastricht, dated to 1705, in the style of Pieter Boel, with Italianate landscapes. The composition includes exuberant foreground flowers, exotic birds including turkeys and peacocks, and flying birds, and another Landscape with birds, of similar design, of the same date, and attributed to Oudenaarde, see ibid. fig.pg. 215. The overall design is comparable with the landscapes woven in Beauvais, by Filips Behagel, who was from Oudenaarde.

There is an interesting pair of ‘Woodland Tapestries’, again with similar design elements of exotic birds both flying and in the foreground of formal gardens with landscapes, from a once larger room set, which are signed by Baert, with the Amsterdam town mark, circa 1700-1730 (possibly after Baert’s death in 1719 by his widow and son). Baert too was originally an Oudenaarde weaver, where the woodland landscape was a popular genre, and which continued to influence his designs, for further discussion see Ebeltje Hartkamp-Jonxis and Hillie Smith, European Tapestries in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, 2004, pp.268-270, cat.nos.65a-b.