Object details
Accession number
T21n4
Primary Creator
Italian
Full title
Curtain
Creation Date
about 1725-1775
Provenance
Offered at the A.N. Demidov Sale [Anatole Nikolaievitch Demidoff, 1st prince of San Donato (1812-1870)] at Palazzo San Donato, Florence on 12-22 April 1880, lot 865.
Purchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner from the dealer Sypher & Co., New York on 20 October 1880 for $700.
Marks
inscribed in ink (on accompanying note): San Donato Catalogue no 865 / 1 Genoa Velvet Portiere / The central medallion represents the combat of St. Michael & the Devil. It is lined with a white satin altar cloth ornamented with gold arabesques and bordered with Venetian gold lace
Dimensions
219.1 x 143.8 cm (86 1/4 x 56 5/8 in.)
Display Media
Cut plain silk velvet embroidered with polychrome silk yarns with couched silver and gilt yarns
Web 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.
Permanent Gallery Location
Dutch Room
Bibliography
Palazzo San Donato. A.N. Demidov Sale [Anatole Nikolaievitch Demidoff, 1st prince of San Donato (1812-1870)] (Florence, 12-22 April 1880), p. 178, no. 865. (as Italian, Genoa)
Gilbert Wendel Longstreet and Morris Carter. General Catalogue (Boston, 1935), p. 178. (as Italian, dated about 16th or 17th century)
Adolph S. Cavallo. Textiles: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1986), pp. 158-59, no. 114, ill. (as Italian, dated about 1725-1775 with later alterations)
Rights and reproductions
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