COLLECTION NAME:
The AMICA Library
Record
AMICA ID:
MMA_.09.137.2
AMICA Library Year:
2000
Object Type:
Textiles
Creator Nationality:
European; Netherlandish
Creator Name-CRT:
South Netherlandish
Title:
Figures in a Rose Garden
View:
Full View
Creation Date:
1450-1455
Creation Start Date:
1450
Creation End Date:
1455
Materials and Techniques:
Wool warp; wool, silk, metallic weft yarns
Classification Term:
Textiles-Tapestries
Dimensions:
9 ft. 5 3/4 in. x 10 ft. 8 in. (288.9 x 325.1 cm)
AMICA Contributor:
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Owner Location:
New York, New York, USA
ID Number:
09.137.2
Credit Line:
Rogers Fund, 1909
Context:
This work belongs to a series of tapestries designed to cover the walls of an entire room. Such sets were often referred to in medieval inventories as "rooms" ("chambres"). It is possible that this set was made for the French king Charles VII, whose colors were white, red, and green and one of whose emblems was the rose tree. A royal connection is certainly likely, for the tapestries are sumptuous, with metal threads not only in the clothing and jewelry worn by the fashionable courtiers and ladies, but also in the background leaves, buds, and open roses. Working from full-scale painted designs, the weavers produced tapestries like this by forcing the cross threads (weft) tightly into place-each different-colored thread separately-until all the undyed lengthwise threads (warp) were concealed. Even with several weavers working side by side-the usual procedure-and with the tapestries of a single set being worked simultaneously on separate looms, their production would have taken several years. Hung on the walls of a castle or manor house, tapestries not only served the practical function of insulation, preventing dampness from entering the room, but also constituted a visible and portable declaration of their owner's wealth and taste.
Related Image Identifier Link:
MMA_.md09.137.2.R.tif
Link To Source
Figures in a Rose Garden
