Object details
Object number
T26n6.a-d
Creator(s)
Italian
Title
Hanging
Date
1738-1775
Medium
Silk, cut velvet with embroidered silk and metallic yarns
Description
Scrolls, shield, Crowns
Dimensions
252.7 x 201.6 cm (99 1/2 x 79 3/8 in.)
Provenance
Entered Isabella Stewart Gardner's collection at an unknown date.
Commentary
This wall hanging of red velvet bears a single armorial motif in the center of its upper half and two smaller and different armorial motifs, mirror-images of each other, in its lower half. Flowering scrolls worked with couched silk and gild yarns form a border on all four sides.
The large shield at the top, set against a composition of military trophies and surmounted by an open crown denoting a rank tentatively identified as that of marquis, is charged with an eagle facing left. A closed crown on its head and a shield encircled by collars of the orders of the Golden Fleece and of San Gennaro is on its breast. The chivalric Order of San Gennaro (St. Januarius, Bishop of Benevento, martyred at Pozzuoli in 305 AD and principal saint of Naples) was instituted by Charles III of Bourbon, King of Naples, in honor of that saint, on July 3, 1738.
Each of the two smaller shields is charged with the figure of a crown erect lion and a tower; each shield is framed with scrollwork and surmounted by the same kind of crown in the main shield.
Bibliography
Gilbert Wendel Longstreet. General Catalogue (Boston, 1935), p. 228. (as Italian, 16th century or later)
Adolph S. Cavallo. Textiles: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1986), p. 158-59, no. 113. (as Italian, 1738-75)
Gallery
Titian Room
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