February, 1912 
* TOMMASO MS MON THe meget SMe NS TTS NAN Os To TAT OT 
A superb Renaissance tapestry, ‘“Vertumnus and Pomona,” 
about fourteen by twenty feet in size, in the Spanish Royal Collection at Madrid 
ANIERIGAN HOMES AND GARDENS 4S 
Real Tapestries 
What They Are, and Something About Buying Them 
By George Leland Hunter 
Photographs by T. C. Turner 
—a|APESTRY is a broad word. It ranges all 
the way from ten cents a roll for verdure 
papers to tenthousand dollars a yard for the 
marvelous pictures woven on the high-warp 
looms of the Fifteenth and the Sixteenth 
Century. In between the wall papers and the 
arras come numerous printed, painted and loom-figured 
textiles that, on account of their resemblance to real tapestry 
—often remote—have acquired the same name. Conse- 
quently it is not strange that confusion exists in the minds 
of many as to what real tapestry actually is, especially as 
dictionaries and encyclopedias almost without exception de- 
fine the word incorrectly or incompletely, while its trade 
meaning varies according to the shop in which it is found. 
Several years ago the writer was invited by an intending 
purchaser to visit an antique shop to pass on the genuine- 
ness of what purported to be a Seventeenth Century Gobelin 
tapestry, declared to be worth $10,000. While the dealer 
disclaimed all expert knowledge of tapestries and was not 
ready to guarantee the attribution, the eagerness with which 
he pointed to the woven signature, Ch. Le Brun Pinxit, and 
the willingness with which he introduced references to per- 
sons and books likely to spur on the hesitating purchaser, 
showed that he was either extraordinarily ingenuous—which 
antique dealers seldom are—or was trying to perpetrate a 
gross fraud without technically violating the law. The 
dealer was indignant and threatened violence when the 
writer stated that the tapestry was machine-made and worth 
about twenty-five dollars. The purchaser covered our re- 
treat, incidentally expressing his opinion of the dealer. Re- 
cently I related the anecdote to the manager of a house that 
imports many of these Jacquard tapestry panels, expecting 
him to be as surprised at the customers ignorance and the 
dealer’s dishonesty as myself. Imagine my amazement when 
he retorted: ‘““Wha’d yer wan’der butt in on der man’s busi- 
ness fur? He had a ridt to get what he could. Lodts of 
the tealers magke good money on dese dapestries.”” He then 
went on to express an unflattering opinion of writers who 
give illustrations and prices that tend to make the public 
less gullible. Indignant at his attitude, and enlightened by 
it, I have since made it a point to investigate the methods 
of distribution of these tapestry panels, and have discovered 
that a large proportion of them are sold to persons who do 
not understand what they are buying, at prices that are ex- 
tortionate. They are an important source of revenue to the 
cheap and tawdry auctioneers of bric-a-brac and what are 
called “‘art”’ objects for the home. And, as instanced above, 
they are a treasure trove to the dealer in bogus “‘antiques”’ 
and second-hand furniture. 
Only in a few of the large establishments is it possible 
to purchase these Jacquard tapestry panels at a fair price, 
from a stock that is large enough to give reasonable choice 
of designs and sizes. Even there, few or none of the sales- 
men have ever seen a real Gobelin or learned to understand 
the difference between real tapestry and imitation. So the 
writer is confident that those behind the counters, as well as 
