Such very decorative verdures, half realistic landscapes, were among the finest products of the late XVIIth and XVIIIth centuries. Audenarde looms wove many of the best pieces of the type, and this piece probably came from that district. The fountain is rendered with delightful detail and animation, and the drawing of flowing waters, a trying problem for tapestry, is managed with admirable dexterity. [Sidenote: 79] ANTWERP, LATE XVII CENTURY [Sidenote: _Wool and Silk._ H. 32 _in._ W. 24 _in._ ] SCENES FROM THE CHILDHOOD OF CHRIST: _On a black ground strewn with flowers, five oval panels framed with wreaths: the Annunciation; the Nativity; the Adoration of the Magi; the Circumcision; the Flight into Egypt._ [Sidenote: Illustrated: _Schmitz, Bild-Teppiche_, p. 265.] [Sidenote: Lent by _Mrs. William H. Crocker_.] This very unusual tapestry was the work of Balthasar Bosmanns, one of the greatest weavers of Antwerp. The realistically drawn yet richly decorative flowers show the influence of the school of flower painters of which Jan Brueghel was the most famous. The landscape in the _Adoration_ and the _Flight into Egypt_ are rendered with exquisite delicacy. The effect of the panels in such light, fresh, almost pastel colors against the black ground is a daring and striking decorative experiment. Another rendering of the same cartoon is in the Kunstgewerbe Museum, Berlin. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 1: _Schmitz, Bild-Teppiche_, p. 186.] [Footnote 2: _Lindner, Der Breslauer Froissart_.] [Footnote 3: _Amberger Catalogue._] [Footnote 4: _Thièry, Les Inscriptions des Tapisseries de Jean Van Room_, pp. 23, 24E.] [Footnote 5: _Marquet de Vasselot, Les Emaux Limousin_, No. 8, pl. II.] [Footnote 6: _Op. cit._ 29, pl. X.] [Footnote 7: _Op. cit._ 49, pl. XVI.] [Footnote 8: _Order for Payment of Philip the Good_, _April_ 4, 1455, _quoted in Van den Gheyn_, _Chroniques et Conquêtes de Charlemagne_, _by le Tavernier_, _p._ 11.] [Footnote 9: _See Burlington Magazine_, vol. 20, pp. 247, 309. _D. T. B. Wood, Credo Tapestries._] [Footnote 10: _See Barbier de Montault's inventory in Annales Archéologiques_, tome 15, pp. 232, 296.] [Footnote 11: _Van Kalcken, Peintures ecclésiastiques du Moyen Age. Notes by Dr. Jan Six._] [Footnote 12: _Op. cit._ p. 1.] [Footnote 13: _Op. cit._ p. 3.] [Footnote 14: _Op. cit._ p. 15.] [Footnote 15: _Burlington Magazine_, vol. 20, p. 220. _D. T. B. Wood, Tapestries of the Seven Deadly Sins._] [Footnote 16: _Catalogue of the Collection of Martin le Roy_, vol. 4.] [Footnote 17: _Destrée, Tapisseries et Sculptures bruxelloises_, p. 8.] [Footnote 18: _Thièry, Les Inscriptions des Tapisseries de Jean Van Room._] [Footnote 19: _Bodenhauser, Gerard David_, No. 10.] [Footnote 20: _Op. cit._ No. 25a.] [Footnote 21: _Destrée, Hugo Van der Goes_, opp. p. 48.] [Footnote 22: _Op. cit._, opp. p. 32.] [Footnote 23: _Thièry, Les Inscriptions des Tapisseries de Jean Van Room_, p. 28.]