General admission for children 17 years and under is always free

Jan van Tiegen - Abraham's Servant Presents Jewels and Raiment to Rebecca, 1550-1600

Fullscreen
Back
1 more
This huge tapestry is about 12 feet square. The color palette consists of shades of pink, beige, tan, and blue with touches of green and red. It is an outdoor scene in a garden.  On the left, under a large tree, a curly haired man in a blue tunic kneels on the ground and removes a red sack from a richly decorated chest as he also reaches for a cloth draped over its edge. A full-bearded, light-skinned man in a short, red tunic and blue cloak stands in the center of the scene and offers a beaded necklace and blue and gold striped cloth to a young woman, with light skin and light hair, to his right. She steps forward and reaches out to accept the gifts. She is dressed in a blue gown with a white overdress. An older, bearded man and a younger, clean shaven, curly-haired man, both with light skin and hair, stand in a row to the right of the gift receiver. They wear short tunics, long draped and tied cloaks, and knee length sandals. The older one carries a sword at his waist. They look at the gift bearer and hold their arms out. The ground in the foreground shows blooming flowers, another chest, and several tipped cups overflowing with pearls. In the background there is a landscape with a large house, rolling hills, trees and shrubs. In front of the house there is a small group of tiny figures washing their feet. The tapestry is surrounded by a wide border of flowers and fruits interspersed with mythological figures and cherubs.  A Latin inscription is written within a blue tablet in the upper center of this border. 

Attributed to Jan van Tiegen (active about 1550)

Abraham's Servant Presents Jewels and Raiment to Rebecca, 1550-1600

Wool warp (7 yarns per cm); wool and silk wefts , 348 x 393.7 cm (137 x 155 in.)

Tapestry Room

On View
Explore Tapestry Room

Commentary

Isabella Stewart Gardner kept meticulous records of many of her acquisitions. In keeping with this legacy, object information is continually being reviewed, updated, and enriched in order to give greater access to the collection.