A FINE LARGE FLEMISH PORTICO TAPESTRY BRUSSELS, WORKSHOP OF JAN RAET EARLY 17TH CENTURY Brussels town mark and weaver's mark in selvedges, with a large central bouquet of flowers in a sculpted vase on a circular plinth, flanked by a turkey protecting her brood of chicks and a leopard pinning a chick to the ground, set within a paved portico, set within an extensive landscape setting with watermills, churches, windmills, bridges and buildings in rolling hills, in a four sided elaborate border with central sculpted cartouches flanked by cornucopias of fruit and flowers with kneeling figures of exotic triton type winged figure, the sides with male figures holding fruit in their arms. within sculptural niches on decorative plinths, with parrots and pendant swags of fruit above approximately 336 by 526cmProvenance: Sothebys, Important Continental Furniture and tapestries, 9th June 2004, lot 38.Christie's, 19th May 1994, lot 369 where it was catalogued as being from the Brussels workshop of Heinrich Reydams I. Galerie Chevalier Tapisseries Anciennes Paris, advertised this tapestry in L'Objet d'Art, May 1996, catalogued as Jan RaetIn the footnotes for the Sotheby's sale it was noted that comparison should be drawn with a suite of Portico tapestries in Catalogo de tapices del Patrimonio Nacional Madrid, 1986, Vol. II, Siglo XVII, Serie 64 , pp. 180- 231. They share the same use of the marbled and swag festooned portico, landscape background, and ornate cartouches and fruit and floral swag borders. Sotheby's. London, 4th December 1959. lot 95, for a comparable piece with a very similar central panel including the same landscape, also including the same turkey and leopard motifs. Furthermore it was noted that the signature on this tapestry had been identified by Professor Guy Delmarcel as being that of Jan Raet. Contemporary with the famous Raes manufacturer, Jan Raet ran a smaller workshop in Brussels. His activity can be traced from 1614 until 1644 when he closed the shop due to bankruptcy. He was Dean of the tapestry weavers' guild from 1633 to 1635 but although he was one of the most important weavers in Brussels in this period, little is recorded and few works by him survive. See also W.G. Thomson. A History of Tapestry, London 1973, pg.505 for reference to this very similar mark having being found on a story of Sampson tapestry in Madrid, a Story of Polyphemus tapestry and 17th Century garlands.