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Lot Essay
This rare, highly refined table carpet features a central oval foliate medallion dominated by an allegory of the cardinal virtue of Justice. Labeled IUSTITIA, she stands dressed in classicizing garb with the crown of wisdom above her head, with a sword pointed upward in her right hand and scales in her left hand. This representation is based on Crispijn van de Passe the Elder’s circa 1580-88 engraving of the same subject after Maarten de Vos the Younger. Surrounding the medallion on the main blue field are various references to fecundity and prosperity: four fruit-filled baskets disposed at the top, bottom, and sides joined with eight tasseled swags hung with grapes, melons, squash, pomegranates, pears, peaches, and citrus, interspersed with various flowers, fruits, and birds. Scrolling vinery and flowers are typical of seventeenth-century English gardens. These motifs, which also relate to contemporary slip motifs in embroidery, include roses, fritillary, carnations, lilies, sunflowers, and tulips in hues of apricot, pink, blue, brown, yellow, white, and green fill the cream-colored border.
The outer corners of the central field contain the seated figures of the theological virtues Faith, Hope, and Charity (Love), and the capital virtue of Humility, each wearing a combination of classical and fashionable dress. Faith, at top left, gazes at the crucifix in her right hand with her left hand over her breast/heart. This depiction is similar to that of Fides in an engraving of the theological virtues by Pieter de Bailliu after Peter van Lint (1623-60). The position and size of the crucifix also suggest familiarity with another print by van de Passe the Elder portraying Fide (circa 1590-1637). Charity, at upper right, holds a young child close to her face and bosom and a second child climbs at her knee, a tender image likely derived from Jan Collaert the Elder’s 1557 engraving of Caritas after Lambert Lombard. Hope, at lower right with a bird perched on her right hand and an anchor at her feet, resembles Sperauere in van de Passe the Elder’s engraving (circa 1590-1637). Humility, at lower left looking toward the divine hands forging a heart on an anvil and seated beside a lamb, may be an imaginative amalgam using the lamb, Humility’s most common attribute, and representations of other virtues, most strikingly Hope (Spes) as depicted by de Bailliu after van Lint (1623-60). The peculiar iconography of the heart and anvil is also known from at least the sixteenth century; see, for instance, an engraving portraying an allegory of the Forge of the Heart by the Master I.B. (1529).
This carpet was possibly made in celebration of the Restoration and the accession of Charles II to the English throne in 1660. Previous scholarship has attempted to link the carpet to the marriage of Charles II and Catherine of Braganza in 1662; however, this is unverifiable.
Previously in the collection of the Pontremoli family, this ‘table carpet’ belongs to a group of textiles that greatly inspired the output of the Pontremoli workshops that produced many carpets in the late Renaissance and early Baroque styles. The Pontremoli family, of Italian Sephardic origin, established workshops at 11 Spring Street in Bayswater, west London in 1910, supplying home furnishings, focusing particularly on antique carpets and textiles. Among their most popular products during the second quarter of the 20th century were needlework carpets, which often incorporated designs very similar to that found in the border of this lot.
The outer corners of the central field contain the seated figures of the theological virtues Faith, Hope, and Charity (Love), and the capital virtue of Humility, each wearing a combination of classical and fashionable dress. Faith, at top left, gazes at the crucifix in her right hand with her left hand over her breast/heart. This depiction is similar to that of Fides in an engraving of the theological virtues by Pieter de Bailliu after Peter van Lint (1623-60). The position and size of the crucifix also suggest familiarity with another print by van de Passe the Elder portraying Fide (circa 1590-1637). Charity, at upper right, holds a young child close to her face and bosom and a second child climbs at her knee, a tender image likely derived from Jan Collaert the Elder’s 1557 engraving of Caritas after Lambert Lombard. Hope, at lower right with a bird perched on her right hand and an anchor at her feet, resembles Sperauere in van de Passe the Elder’s engraving (circa 1590-1637). Humility, at lower left looking toward the divine hands forging a heart on an anvil and seated beside a lamb, may be an imaginative amalgam using the lamb, Humility’s most common attribute, and representations of other virtues, most strikingly Hope (Spes) as depicted by de Bailliu after van Lint (1623-60). The peculiar iconography of the heart and anvil is also known from at least the sixteenth century; see, for instance, an engraving portraying an allegory of the Forge of the Heart by the Master I.B. (1529).
This carpet was possibly made in celebration of the Restoration and the accession of Charles II to the English throne in 1660. Previous scholarship has attempted to link the carpet to the marriage of Charles II and Catherine of Braganza in 1662; however, this is unverifiable.
Previously in the collection of the Pontremoli family, this ‘table carpet’ belongs to a group of textiles that greatly inspired the output of the Pontremoli workshops that produced many carpets in the late Renaissance and early Baroque styles. The Pontremoli family, of Italian Sephardic origin, established workshops at 11 Spring Street in Bayswater, west London in 1910, supplying home furnishings, focusing particularly on antique carpets and textiles. Among their most popular products during the second quarter of the 20th century were needlework carpets, which often incorporated designs very similar to that found in the border of this lot.