Arms of the Greder Family of Solothurn, Switzerland

Unknown

ca. 1691–94 · Wool, silk, metal thread (20-22 warps per inch, 8-9 per cm.) · European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

This armorial tapestry celebrates the Greder family of Solothurn (Switzerland), many of whom served in the French army. It was probably commissioned by François Laurent Greder (1658–1716) between 1691, when he became a brigadier and 1694, when he was made a knight of the Order of Saint Louis. The dramatic use of the swans to flank the armorial is an allusion to the swan feet that form part of the Greder arms. The tapestry was woven in two pieces which were subsequently sewn together (the seam is visible along the center vertical), probably because the workshop’s loom widths precluded the large dimensions required for the tapestry. The tapestry was likely woven in one of the smaller, less-organized commercial weaving workshops in Paris, such as that of Louis and Jean Baptiste Hinard, or of Gilles Bacor, or in the Lorraine region of France.

Artist

Unknown

Date

ca. 1691–94

Medium

Wool, silk, metal thread (20-22 warps per inch, 8-9 per cm.)

Culture

French, possibly Paris or Lorraine

Department

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Credit line

Bequest of Lucy Work Hewitt, 1935