La Forêt Sauvage, A Flemish (Feuilles-des-Choux) tapestry, Oudenaarde, second half 16th century

woven with exuberant flowering plant, animals, birds and insects within large leaf frond, and distant village, within a narrow four-sided scrolling vine and floral border on a saffron ground

This tapestry has old hessian lining. It is recommended that it should have Velcro added across the top edge for hanging purposes in the future. Colours are more green in tone rather than blue, and more defined and more attractive, than in the catalogue photograph. The original light blue outer selvedge is tucked underneath behind the lining, on three sides, not the lower edge. There are some repairs in lower border, and joins in corners. There are some small repairs in areas, for example areas of old repair to the top edge (visible in the photograph as areas of different colours), and there is some oxidisation and repair to the dark browns, commensurate with the dye colour and age. This has resulted in some repairs to the outline areas in scattered areas across the tapestry, visible as a lighter (hazelnut coloured) brown. See the inner edge of border in top left corner, and the length of the inner brown border along the lower border edge. There are scattered later repairs in different colours, to some areas of green, and pale blue in some wings and to centres of flowers, and to highlights in light colour, such as white of tips of wings. Some colour tinting, run in the lower right corner, visible on head of animal and near flower heads in lower right corner. This is an evocative tapestry of this very distinctive genre type. Lovely early weaving techniques clearly visible across the tapestry, especially in details such as spots on animals. Charming subject and details such as insect top left corner. Tapestry is a versatile size.
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This tapestry is from a particularly distinctive group of verdure tapestries dating from the late 16th century. Their charm is in the composition of large leaves hiding exotic animals and birds and having spire tops of castellated buildings in the backgrounds. The group recorded are often lacking borders, and those with borders are mainly with flowers on a brown ground, and some have the narrow banded inner and outer borders of scrolling leaves and flower-heads on a yellow ground such as the design of the border on the offered lot. For examples of similar tapestries with the same inner border as the present tapestry, and a main floral border, see D & P. Chevalier, and P.F Bertrand, Les Tapisseries d’Aubusson et de Felletin, Lausanne, 1988, pg.27, and another example sold Sotheby's, London, 30th October 2002, lot 17. Another auction comparable with just the inner border was sold at Sotheby's, London, 31st October 2006. For two comparable panels, without borders, one with a griffin creature as in the present panel, see Edith Appleton Standen, European Post-Medieval Tapestries and Related Hangings in the Metropolitan Museum, 1985, Vol. I, No.26a & 26b, pp.185-186.

For other examples of this tapestry at auction see The Vigo Sternberg Collection of European Tapestries, Sotheby’s, London 29^th February 1999, lots 12&13, for two Fôret Sauvage tapestries, one without any borders.  Similar examples of this type of tapestry all with three sided wide borders and additional narrow scroll and flower motif inner and outer borders were sold at Sotheby’'s, Zurich, 3^rd June 1997, lots 63 and 77, and at earlier auctions at Sotheby’s London, 11^th April 1981, lot 8, Sotheby's, London, 28^th April 1978, lot 6, and Sotheby Park Bernet, New York, 22^nd May 1979, lot 466.