Rare and exceptional tapestry from the very beginning of the 16th century, from the Manufactures d'Enghien not far from Brussels. From a cardboard box by Laurent Flaschoen, a famous lissier. It is indeed to the "verdures" that the city of Enghien owes its fame, and this reputation has remained attached to this city, even if something else was also produced there. These Enghien green tapestries were already exported to the Duchy of Burgundy at the end of the 15th century. The boxes of the "verdures", the bottom of which was filled with large-leaved plants - probably acanthus or aristoloches leaves and not cabbage leaves - and populated by animals and birds of all kinds, were generally used in turn and according to the availability of the looms and the fluctuating prices, in the centres of Enghien, Gramont and Oudenaarde, very close to each other.The "greenery" is characterised by the omnipresence of a lush and bushy nature, which covers almost the entire woven surface. These tapestries, which are primarily decorative, offer an open window on a pleasant landscape, preferably evoking a form of original harmony between man and nature.
At the end of the 15th century, it was first the vogue for small flowers that completely filled the backgrounds. Their abundance is such that they are called "mille-fleurs". Their freshness delicately reflects the nature and the time of the seigniorial life. Around 1520, a new decoration took over from the mille-fleurs. It is made up of a schematic vegetation whose large leaves recall the stylized acanthus trees of Greek or Roman art. Then in the 17th and 18th centuries, the greenery became more complex both in terms of representation and iconography. It fills up with exotic and familiar animals, sometimes with characters and also with some constructions..,
Oudenaarde, this city in Flanders, which in the 1520s had become a speciality in cabbage-leaf tapestry weaving. A genre that it shared with the towns of Enghien and Grammont. It wasn't until the end of the 16th century - and even the beginning of the following one - that the workshops of the Marche, with Aubusson in the lead, took their turn in the adventure, choosing however to stylise this type of décor and very often to animate it with characters and hunting scenes. These "large-leafed greens", as they are usually called, were in vogue in Flanders until the end of the 16th century. Apparently treated spontaneously and freely, with their exuberant vegetation - here, cabbage leaves, aristoloch flowers, zucchini, grapes and artichokes which a hare, a dog and a bird feast on -, these tapestries offer the image of a fantasy that is both free and learned, and bear witness to an astonishing modernism?
Our house assures you the sale of a tapestry with invoice and approved expertise, well cleaned, in good condition with its fixing system. If it should be necessary, we will specify the work that has been done. All our tapestries can be presented to you at your home in France and neighbouring countries before your final decision.
