Origin: Flanders-Audenarde

Period: 17th century

Provenance: Private Collection

Composition: Wool and silk

Dimension: 2.93 W x 3.09 H

Flemish tapestry woven in wool and silk circa 1650.

It has for register the "Baptism of Clovis by Saint Rémi in the abbey of Saint-Rémi":

"Humbly bow your head, Sicambre, burn what you adored, adore what you burned!" It all started with these words, at the turn of the 5th and 6th centuries, when Remi, bishop of Reims, baptized Clovis, the first of the Merovingian kings. From this baptism, symbolic birth certificate of Catholic and royal France, S remains, among the French, the deep awareness of being a chosen people, invested with a universal and sacred mission.

"Humbly bow your head, Sicambre, burn what you have adored, adore what you have burned!" These words, reported some eighty years after the baptism of Clovis by Gregory, bishop of Tours (v. 538-v. 594), have crossed our history. “France, remember your baptism! "Exclaimed Pope John Paul II during his first stay in the nation which has long considered itself" the eldest daughter of the Church ". And a famous collection formerly included, at the head of the “Thirty days that made France”, a work entitled December 25: the baptism of Clovis.

It is, in fact, on December 25 of an uncertain year, between 496 and 509, that Remi, bishop of Reims, would have pronounced the famous sentence reported by Grégoire de Tours, while pouring on the head of Clovis, leader of the Germans, that one calls Francs Saliens, baptismal water.

Our house assures you the sale of a tapestry with invoice and approved expertise, well cleaned, in good condition with its fixing system. If this should be necessary, we will tell you what work has been done. All our tapestries can be presented to you at your home in France and neighboring countries before your final decision.