Winemaking

Place of OriginTournai, Flanders

Dateabout 1480

Dimensions10 ft. x 5 ft., 7 in.

MediumTapestry (wool and silk)

ClassificationTextiles and Fiber

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1949.33

Not on View

Collections

Decorative Arts

Published ReferencesExposition Rétrospective de la Vigne et le Vin dans l'Art, Paris, 1936, No. 1710, ill.

Duncan, Sally Anne, Otto Wittmann: Museum Man for All Seasons, Toledo, 2001, repr. p. 14.

Exhibition HistoryMusée des Arts Decoratifs, Paris, Exposition Rétrospective de la Vigne et le Vin dans l'Art, 1936.Comparative ReferencesRevue de Bourgogne, 1911, pp. 372 ff.

Bull. des Musées de France, 1932, p. 3. See also Tapestry of the Vintagers, Tournider, 2nd half of 15th century.

Label TextAlong with the hunt, winemaking was one of the most popular and picturesque seasonal themes that weavers of the late Middle Ages portrayed. Woven of wool and silk, these two tapestries are fragments and originally belonged to a series intended to cover the walls of an entire room. Each step of the winemaking process was presented with precision in the original four tapestries: the grape harvest, pressing the wine, filling the barrels, and tasting and selling the wine. The tapestry fragment on the left depicts the filling of the barrels, with a cooper (barrel maker) in the foreground closing up a wine cask. The fragment on the right shows the vineyard overseer and laborers tapping wine casks and transporting grapes, while a customer in the foreground pays for his purchase. The tapestry became an important artistic medium in the 14th century. As luxury items, they were important investments, their significance underscored by their use as diplomatic gifts. In the second half of the 16th century, the city of Tournai (today in Belgium) became the leading manufacturing center for high-quality tapestries.