Silver collection
Oudenaarde was an important centre for
the art of precious metals between the 15th and the 18th century.
The trade went from father to son, often for generations. There
is a big collection of silver tableware, for example tea, coffee
and chocolate pots, cutlery and little pieces like salt and
pepper-cellars, mustard pots and oil and vinegar sets. The oldest
known teapot dates from 1702. There are also many other objects
made from silver; we can see candlesticks, tobacco-boxes and
decorative pots. Besides these there is religious silverware
like altar-vases, holy water pots, crucifixes and a famous monstrance
(ostensorium) from 1762. There is also a prayerbook, with silver
fittings and fastenings and a silver medallion. The silver collection
is owned by Ernest De Boever and was loaned to the city hall;
in this way everybody can admire these treasures of art.
Tapestries
Below City Hall, in the cloth-hall, a
beautiful collection of very old tapestries can be admired.
They are handled with the utmost care and respect. The making
of tapestries was one of the most important trades of the city
from the 16th to the 18th century. The tapestries made in Oudenaarde
are known for their very high quality. Proof of this is that
they can be found all over Europe. They can still be admired
in many public places and are admitted to private-collections.
The themes on these tapestries also follow the fashion of the
time of their production. In the earliest tapestries we often
see historical and biblical themes, mostly taken from the Old
Testament. Another popular one was mythology. In later years
it was mostly landscape pictures, often with large animals like
horses, deer and leopards or sometimes fantasy animals like
unicorns and dragons. Of course, hunting tableaux could not
be omitted in the houses of the wealthy. Then came romantic
representations and, of course, one of the specialities of Oudenaarde
the "Verdures" or “Green work”. These
are scenes with gardens and trees. Every leaf was weaved with
great precision, with a scale of green colors. The average size
of a carpet was 4 or 5 meters wide and about 2 or 3 meters deep.
These large tapestries hung beautifully on the walls of rich
homes.
History
The first weaver from Oudenaarde is mentioned
in old documents from 1368. Documents before that time don't
exist anymore. In 1441 the St. Barbara Guild was founded, the
trade guild for carpet weavers. The oldest known carpets are
dated about 1550.
Weaving was mostly carried out at home on a loaned or owned
loom. The raw materials a weaver used were hemp and flax for
the chain fibres and for the weft-threads they would use colored
wool and silk and even gold on metal threads.
"De Weever"
("The Weaver" in Old Dutch)
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"De Tapeitwerker"
("The Carpet-worker" in Old Dutch)
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"100 Verbeeldingen van Ambachten" - 1694 - Johannes
en Caspaares Luiken
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By order of Emperor Charles in 1544, Oudenaardse
weavers were obligated to mark their tapestries with a city-mark
and a weavers-mark. These were woven into the border of the
carpet. The Oudenaarde city mark was a coat of arms with spectacles,
depending on the house that made it. These marks were in fact
a quality-label for the trade of Oudenaarde. In time it helped
experts to recognize the carpets; in spite of the fact that
there were many carpets from Oudenaarde without the city-mark.
House de Lalaing
As would be expected all these valuable
carpets are handled with extreme care. For that the city uses
another historical building, House Lalaing. This is an aristocratic
house once belonging to Philips de Lalain, city-governor, who
lived there in the 16th century. It is here that the carpets
are restored. They are first washed very thoroughly. This takes
place in a very big bed where the carpet can lie entirely flat.
Employees bind synthetic sponges under their feet and walk very
carefully over every part of the carpet. Then it is dried with
the use of white soft towels and absorbant blotting paper. This
is followed by the restoration of any thinned or worn-out areas
and here also the employees use special procedures so the original
carpet stays intact. The carpets are wrapped around big cylinders
with an opening in between so the employee can work on the specific
areas. These employees are specially trained so that they are
able to find and repair down to the smallest of worn-out areas.
The whole process of preservation and restoration can last one
or two years, depending on the condition of the carpet. After
that the carpet is again well preserved for decades.
The collection of carpets on display is
rotated regularly. They are hung up for 6 months and then rolled
up and stored for 6 months. The full collection of Oudenaarde
carpets consists of 24 tapestries and 14 of most of these are
displayed in the Cloth-Hall.
The collection of carpets on display is
rotated regularly. They are hung up for 6 months and then rolled
up and stored for 6 months. The full collection of Oudenaarde
carpets consists of 24 tapestries and 14 of most of these are
displayed in the Cloth-Hall.
MANUFACTURE
“A room”
Because only rich families could allow themselves to have such
exclusive tapestries, they were mostly ordered in series. One
series was called "a room". The intention was that
all the walls of one room were dressed with carpets according
to a specific theme. A room could have up to a series of six
carpets. The carpets were adapted to the size of the places
where they were to hang.
Patterns
The patterns were very complicated and very rich in detail.
An artist made the design and put it on pieces of cardboard,
around 40 x 40 cm. The image was put between the threads and
the weaver had to follow the image exactly. But, the weaver
always worked with the back of the carpet towards him. So the
image was made in reflection. The weaver could examine his work
by looking in a mirror that was placed opposite the carpet.
Because the cardboards were used more than once, we can find
similar carpet backs with the same image.
Border
From the 1500’s every carpet was made with a border. This
border was identical for every carpet belonging to the same
"room". Every weaver used his own kind of border.
Most of the time these borders were immediately woven on the
representation. Sometimes the border was made separately and
put on later .
Alexander the Great
The pride of Oudenaarde is a series of
tapestries having to do with the famous Macedonian sovereign
Alexander the Great. These carpets, unknown until 1995, were
purchased by the city in 1998. The series consists of three
very high quality carpets made late in the 16th century. The
history of Alexander was a beloved theme in the art of making
carpets. This was because at the time people looked up to the
deeds of world leaders. The owner of such a carpet could proudly
show his visitors how these passages were captured in his beautiful
wall-decorations.
It is believed that this series belonged
to Alexander Farnese, de Duke of Parma (1545 – 1592).
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Alexander Farnese
1545 - 1593
Governor of the Spanish
Netherlands
(1578-1592)
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This Spanish Governor was the son of Margaret
of Parma, who was born in Oudenaarde. He probably received the
carpets as a gift in 1582 at his official inauguration in the
city of Oudenaarde. It is not known how many carpets were made,
but the whole "room" would have cost 2,000 florins,
without a doubt a fortune in those days. An old document mentions
patterns for a room of 8 pieces, depicting the history of Alexander.
The collection now owned by the city consists of three carpets:
- Alexander before the high priest Iaddo
- Alexander being presented with a crown
- The army camp at the river Granikos (Alexander was fighting
here against the Persian King Darius – ca. 332 B.C.)
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"Alexander before the high priest Iaddo"
Oudenaarde Tapestry - from the 'Alexander the Great'
series - 16th century
- Oudenaarde City Museum - (© Technifoto)
(With the kind permission from the city of Oudenaarde
and Technifoto)
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A fourth carpet from this series: “Alexander
receiving the kings of Cyprus and Fenicia”. Previously
found in Barcelona.
The carpets were probably made between
1580 and 1590. It is not known who designed them, but they are
most certainly masterpieces, in which all the little details,
in the foreground and the background are drawn carefully and
then woven with extreme precision. The four boards also contain
many decorative details, painstakingly made. Of all the carpets
discovered to this day, it seems that this very popular series
was reproduced the most. This series of patterns were used for
many generations. From the carpet "Alexander before the
high priest Iaddo" 4 versions have already been discovered.
The oldest one, the one in the museum of Oudenaarde, has the
best quality. The other three are in Italy, Hungary and one
in a private-collection.
On this carpet the most important people
are standing in front, namely Alexander and Iaddo the high priest
of Israel. In the background you can see a part of the sovereign’s
army and in the distance a landscape with houses, trees and
people. Every detail is shown to perfection. The boards are
also a chain of lovely representations. On every side of the
great board we can see a little board with square motives, typical
for the carpet-art of Oudenaarde. On the carpet we see a representation
of Alexander the Great (356 – 323 B.C.), while he was
having a journey of victory against the Persians. Jerusalem
opened its doors for him and according to Jewish historian Josephus
Flavius they showed Alexander the Bible book of Daniel. Probably
chapter eight, were it speaks about a powerful Greek king, who
would defeat the Persian Empire and conquer it (Daniel 8 verses
5-7 and verses 20-21). Alexander then allowed Jerusalem to remain
intact and continued his victory march towards Egypt.
But, who was the high priest? According
to the book “Chronologie van de bijbelse geschiedenis”
('Chronology of Biblical History') Jaddua was the high priest
in those days. He was the last of the high priests mentioned
in the Old Testament as having descended from Aaron. He was
the fifth generation after Jeshua, and therefore can have lived
during the same time as Alexander (Nehemiah 12 verse 22).
THE DIVINE NAME
A remarkable detail on the headgear of
the high priest is that we see written on it IEOVA, the name
of God. This is in agreement with what the Bible says in Exodus
28 verses 36 and 37. There it is written that the high priest
had to place a golden nameplate on his headgear with the text:
“Holiness belongs to Jehovah”.
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