Art Institute of Chicago

Abundantia from The Four Continents and Related Allegories

After a cartoon by Lodewijk van Schoor (died 1702) and Pieter Spierinckx (1635–1711)

Date

c. 1680/1700

Medium

Wool and silk, slit and double interlocking tapestry weave Warp: Count: 7 warps per cm; wool: S-ply of three Z-spun elements; diameters: 0.7–0.9 mm Weft: Count: varies from 28 to 44 wefts per cm; wool: single S-spun elements; S-ply of two Z-spun elements; diameters: 0.2–0.8 mm; silk: pairs of S-ply of two Z-twisted elements; diameters: 0.6–0.8 mm

Culture

Brussels

Department

Textiles

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

In this tapestry, part of a Four Continents and Related Allegories set, Abundantia, a female personification of abundance, sits on a horn of plenty overflowing with fruit, surrounded by three female attendants, each representing a continent. The kneeling woman crowned with a circlet of blossoms, offering a basket of flowers and fruit, personifies Asia. The dark-skinned woman bearing a horn of plenty full of sheaves of grain represents Africa. The third attendant, who wears a feathered headdress and displays gold, silver, and pearls, can be identified as America. The attributes of all four figures are based on Cesare Ripa’s Iconologia (1593), and their depiction exemplifies the early style of their designer, Lodewijck van Schoor: they have elongated bodies, small heads, long noses, and broad arms and legs, and though they gesture dramatically, their poses are formulae repeated throughout the set.

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