17th-18th Century European Wool Tapestry Fragment: Throned Man in Cape with Giant Quill Pen?!

Regular price $225.00

I purchased this one from a dealer in Maine who always has wonderful things from all over the world, including lots of beautiful old textiles. Based on others I have looked at, I believe this wool tapestry fragment is most likely French or Flemish, dating to either the later 17th or early 18th century. In addition to just loving things this old, perhaps textiles most of all--carrying the presence of time and labor and the hand so intimately across centuries--I was struck by the straight-ahead, determined looking gaze of this figure, seated in what appears to be a throne, and by his great collar and cape, and especially by what I take for a giant quill pen in his hand, as if he's just signed, or is about to sign, a very important proclamation! Seems possible the tapestry marked a specific moment, though perhaps was a more general signifier of power--and it appears to me that this fragment was likely made for the back of a bench or seat of some sort, as it is finished at the top and bottom edges but hemmed (later, but not recently) on the left and right edges.  I am sure someone could dig further into this, perhaps even to determine the specific figure represented, but for me of course it is always so much about how it meets one in the present moment--and at this particular moment, when power and proclamation is so much on the mind, it feels especially alive! 

 21 1/4" x 16 3/8" and in very good, very old condition. The hemming to the right and left edges was not done entirely squarely, no matter I think. No losses, no unravelling, just surely fading/toning to the color over the centuries. Sturdy and not fragile, this could readily be pinned directly to the wall.