THE MEETING OF ABRAHAM AND MELCHISEDECH ATELIERS... Lot 34

THE MEETING OF ABRAHAM AND MELCHISEDECH ATELIERS DE LA MARCHE, END OF THE 15th CENTURY wool and linen H. 215 x 180 cm Exceptional condition This tapestry woven by the Ateliers de la Marche presents the famous scene of the meeting of Abraham and Melchisedech (Gen. 14, 17-20) in a rare composition. Melchisedech, king of Salem and priest of the Most High, recognizable by his mitre, has come to bring his blessing to Abraham. He offers his army bread and wine, in exchange for which the patriarch gives him a tenth of his booty. Understood as a prefiguration of the Eucharist, this biblical theme was very successful in the 16th century. It is notably at the heart of a five-piece hanging woven in Brussels around 1510 for the cathedral of Saint-Vincent de Châlon-sur-Saône, but here the scene is organized around the central gesture of giving. The two groups, led by each of the protagonists, are arranged symmetrically on either side of a vertical axis marked, in the foreground, by the pieces of crockery on the floor and, in the background, by a vigorous tree. The composition borrows its main features from a drawing by Martin de Vos (Antwerp, 1532-1603), engraved by Gerard de Jode (Nimegue, 1508/1509-Antwerp, 1591) and widely distributed in Europe (fig. 1). In the same way, the leafy trunk stands out on a strip of sky, in the middle of a forest of erected spears. The archaic treatment of the episode is appreciated here, served by a palette dominated by yellow and blue in an almost naive style.