Cephalus and Procris
Hendrik II Reydams (fl. 1669 – d. 1719)
Category
Tapestries
Date
circa 1680 - circa 1690
Materials
Tapestry, wool, silk, metal thread and cotton Warp count: 8 per 1 cm Weft count: 22 per 1 cm
Measurements
306 x 465 cm
Place of origin
Brussels
Order this imageCollection
Knole, Kent
NT 130082.1
Summary
Tapestry, wool and silk, Cephalus and Procris from a set of Stories from Ovid, Hendrik II Reydams, Brussels, c. 1680-1690. In the centre Cephalus, holding a spear, sits on the ground with the dying Procris, his lover, lying on his lap. To the left are two hunting dogs. The setting is a wooded landscape. Cephalus accidentally killed Procris with the magic spear given to him by the goddess Aurora. The borders are of fruit, leaves and birds on a brown ground. All four sides of the tapestry are finished with a blue galloon that had been previously folded to neaten on all four sides. The tapestry is one of six with stories from Ovid’s ‘Metamorphoses’ made in Brussels by Hendrik II Reydams, whose signature appears on most of the set along with the mark of the city. The tapestries may be the ‘6 peces of Tapestry Storys out of Ovid out of ye ante Chamber to the Rich bed Chamber’, listed among a load of goods ‘Caried from [?Copt]hall to Knowle out of ye Qu[en]es C[?hamber]’ on 13 December 1700. This indicates that the tapestries may have among the goods taken as perquisites by the 6th Earl of Dorset from Queen Mary’s apartments at Whitehall after her death in 1695.
Credit line
Knole, The Sackville Collection (The National Trust)
Marks and inscriptions
HR (woven into the galloon)
Makers and roles
Hendrik II Reydams (fl. 1669 – d. 1719), workshop