A post-Mortlake metamorphoses tapestry, early 18th century possibly Antwerp 436cm x 213cm
Sold for £4,000 inc. premium
Looking for a similar item?
Our Furniture (English & European) specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.
Find your local specialistA post-Mortlake metamorphoses tapestry, early 18th century possibly Antwerp
436cm x 213cm
Footnotes
Accompanying description from 1890 - original document on display and image available online:
Mythological Explanation of the Tapestry in the Tapestry room
Tues 22 Sept 1890
As Pluto once after a violent earthquake visited the island of Sicily, he saw Porsepine, the daughter of Ceres gathering flowers in the plains of Enna*. He became enamoured and immediately carried her away upon his chariot drawn by four horses. To make his intent (?) more unknown he opened himself a passage through the Earth by striking it with his trident near the Fountain of Cyane.
Ceres was most inconsolable at the loss of her daughter and would never have discovered whither she had been carried had she not learned from Arethusa (?) the nymph of the mountain that Porsepine had been carried away by Pluto
*a city in the heart of Sicily, near which was a Temple of Ceres and a grove out of which Pluto carried Porsepine.
Private Collection UK
Spains Hall, Finchingfield, Essex thence by descent.
Ref: See Marillier "English Tapestries," page 82 (3b) for a similar version woven in reverse.
