Soumak

A Flemish Late Gothic Tapestry Panel

Early 16th century, Possibly Tournai.

Provenance: Dinolevi, Florence, ca. 1960.

A pictorial field depicts two draped, seated figures conversing beneath dense arching trees rendered in layered greens and golds, with a distant landscape of hills, water and small architectural forms visible through the foliage. In the foreground a cluster of leafy plants with pink and white blossoms grows beside an overturned ewer, while the narrow border running around the composition is filled with a repeating interlaced ribbon pattern in cream, rose and sage tones against a warm brown ground.

A tapestry field depicting a procession of ecclesiastical figures in white and pink vestments, centered on a mitred bishop receiving a host from a kneeling cleric, with acolytes bearing candlesticks flanking the group and a rose-hued column at right. Below the scene a heraldic shield with a Latin motto, "ZELVS DOMVS TVAE CONEDIT ME", is set within scrolling foliage, and the lower border carries a woven inscription in French, "COGNOISSANCE·LVY·APPORTANT·L'HOSTIE·AVECQVE·REVERENCE".

A long narrow runner filled with an all-over lattice of diamond-shaped medallions in alternating red, blue, and burgundy, each set against a warm gold ground and connected by dark brown vinelike stems. Small floral rosettes fill the interstices between diamonds, and the composition repeats without a distinct border, the pattern running to a scalloped red-and-white edge before the fringe at each end.

100% Cotton

Several plain-woven grounds meet and fold across one another, each panel a solid tone of slate blue, rust, pale mauve, and ivory. Fine pinstripes cross the surfaces on the diagonal, a single thin line running unbroken from one edge to the next. The folds catch light differently along each plane, so the same open, undecorated field appears to shift in value from panel to panel.

Sheer fabric and curtain.

55% Linen, 45% Cotton

The field is left entirely open to an abstract, animal-pelt-like design, with sweeping striated bands of cream, tan, ochre and near-black flowing on the diagonal across the surface. No distinct border separates field from edge, the pattern running unbroken to the fringe on all sides, and mottled spotting breaks up the larger pale patches at center.