A Brussels Mythological Tapestry from the Series The Adventures of Jupiter and Mercury

Possibly by Hendrik II Reydams, after Johannes de Reyff, Early 18th Century

woven in wool and silk, depicting Jupiter and Pandora from the series of The Adventures of Jupiter and Mercury, with the King of the Gods depicted in the left foreground presenting Pandora with a box, attended by the gods Minerva, Mercury, Diana, Juno, Vulcan, Venus, Cupid and Ceres, beside a column topped by a vase draped with a cloth, within a woodland clearing with a fountain and nymphs beyond to the right and men working in a woodland forge to the left, all within a simulated picture frame-border.
11 feet 2 inches x 16 feet 10 inches.

Property from a Private Family Trust

This lot is located in Chicago.

Provenance:

Christie's, Amsterdam, ‘The Property of an Important Dutch Collector’, April 1 2009, Lot 388

Private Collection

Acquired from the above by present owner in 2009.

Note:

The scene illustrated in this tapestry is based on a story told by the ancient Greek poet Hesiod. Pandora, the 'all-giver' and 'all-gifted', had been fashioned from clay by Vulcan, whose workshop is visible in the left background. Jupiter sent Pandora to Earth to bring punishment to mankind for Prometheus' theft of fire. To take with her, he had given her a box which when opened ended the Golden Age and set free evils that have since come upon the human race.

Hendrick II Reydams (1650-1719) was a member of an important dynasty of Brussels weavers. His workshop was particularly famous for its armorial tapestries after David Teniers The Younger, landscapes, sometimes with small figures, and mythological tapestries, such as this one. An inventory of the estate of Urbans Leyniers, who had collaborated with Hendrick II Reydams between 1712 and 1719, lists the little-known Johannes de Reyff, student of Lancelot Volder, as the author of a series of six tapestries illustrating ‘The Story of Jupiter’. The present design probably belongs to this set (see G. Delmarcel, Flemish Tapestry, Tielt & London, 1999, p. 306).

A Brussels Mythological Tapestry from the Series The Adventures of Jupiter and Mercury