Cleopatra and Antony Enjoying Supper, from The Story of Caesar and Cleopatra

CC0 Public Domain Designation

c. 1680

After a design by Justus van Egmont (Flemish, 1601–1674)
Woven at the workshop of Gerard Peemans (Flemish, 1637/39–1725)
Brussels, Flanders (now Belgium)

To impress Antony, Cleopatra promised to organize the most lavish supper he had ever attended. The meal itself was ordinary, but at its end, Cleopatra dissolved a pearl in a cup of vinegar and drank it. This event was not recorded by Plutarch; it derives from Pliny’s Natural History (1st century A.D.).

Status: On View, Gallery 239
Department: Textiles

Artists: Workshop of Gerard Peemans (Producer) , Geraert Peemans (Manufacturer) , Justus van Egmont (Designer)
Title: Cleopatra and Antony Enjoying Supper, from The Story of Caesar and Cleopatra
Places: Flanders (Object made in), Brussels (Object made in)
Date: Made 1670-1690
Medium: Wool and silk, slit and double interlocking tapestry weave
Inscriptions: Marked and signed: Brussels city mark; GI PEEMANS Inscribed: CLEOPATRA·CVM / ANTHONIO MENSE / ASSIDET (Cleopatra and Antony enjoying supper)
Dimensions: 321.9 × 362 cm (126 3/4 × 142 5/8 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Mrs. Chauncey McCormick and Mrs. Richard Ely Danielson
Reference Number: 1944.17
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/49664/manifest.json

Koenraad Brosens, ed., Christa C. Mayer Thurman, gen. ed., European Tapestries in the Art Institute of Chicago, exh. cat., [exhibition: “The Divine Art: Four Centuries of European Tapestries in the Art Institute of Chicago”] (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2008) 138-165, cat. 19M.

Art Institute of Chicago, Regenstein Hall, The Divine Art: Four Centuries of European Tapestry, Nov. 1, 2008–Jan. 4, 2009.

Possibly the Villalonga family, Mallorca, to 1914 at the latest; sold to Charles Deering (died 1927), Marycel, Sitges, Spain, and Miami, FL, by 1914 [Koenraad Brosens, ed, 2008, 136-365, cat. 19M; on loan to the Art Institute of Chicago from Feb. 7, 1922, loan number 323.122]; given to his daughters, Mrs. Chauncey McCormick (died 1965; born Marion Deering, also Marion McCormick) and Mrs. Ely Danielson (died 1982; born Barbara Deering, also Barbara Danielson), Mar. 4, 1924 [letter from Charles Deering to Charles Hutchinson, Mar. 4, 1924; AIC Institutional Archives]; given to the Art Institute, 1944.

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