News of the Stag from the series known as the Hunters' Chase

News of the Stag from the series known as the Hunters' Chase

Mortlake Tapestry Manufactory

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This tapestry is one from a nine-piece series known as the Hunters’ Chase. Curiously-enough, given its secular subject-matter, the original edition was commissioned by the Dutch Church in London, in 1645. Francis Clein designed four of the pieces in the series from scratch; the other five, including News of the Stag, were based on existing tapestry designs by the great 16th-century artist Bernard van Orley for his influential, Brussels-woven Hunts of Maximilian. Hunters’ Chase proved incredibly popular for Mortlake, resulting in much-needed commissions for the floundering manufactory: at least 8 different re-editions were woven during the following decades, including that of which this News of the Stag was part. For more info see Edith Standen, European post-medieval tapestries and related hangings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1985 (vol.2, cat.125) and Wendy Hefford in Tapestry in the Baroque: Threads of Splendor, MMA exh.cat. 2007 (p.182).

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

News of the Stag from the series known as the Hunters' ChaseNews of the Stag from the series known as the Hunters' ChaseNews of the Stag from the series known as the Hunters' ChaseNews of the Stag from the series known as the Hunters' ChaseNews of the Stag from the series known as the Hunters' Chase

The fifty thousand objects in the Museum's comprehensive and historically important collection of European sculpture and decorative arts reflect the development of a number of art forms in Western European countries from the early fifteenth through the early twentieth century. The holdings include sculpture in many sizes and media, woodwork and furniture, ceramics and glass, metalwork and jewelry, horological and mathematical instruments, and tapestries and textiles. Ceramics made in Asia for export to European markets and sculpture and decorative arts produced in Latin America during this period are also included among these works.