The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 19, 2024

The Mystical Grapes

The Mystical Grapes

c. 1500
Wool, silk, silver thread; tapestry weave
Overall: 79 x 75.9 cm (31 1/8 x 29 7/8 in.); Framed: 102.2 x 99.7 cm (40 1/4 x 39 1/4 in.)
John L. Severance Fund 1973.77
Location: not on view

Description

Henry VIII owned many little tapestries, even commissioning London-made copies after European originals owned by Katherine of Aragon. With its small scale and extraordinary details, this piece was intended to be appreciated as an aid to private devotions. Locking eyes with the infant Christ, the fruit of the Virgin’s womb (represented by the pomegranate in the glass), the user contemplated Christ’s fate to die as savior of the world. The Christ child is flanked by the Virgin Mary and Joseph, and behind them three angels read from an open book. He squeezes grapes into a chalice, symbolizing the gift of his own blood for the redemption of humankind.
  • Spitzer Collection; Economas Collection; Mortimer Schiff Collection; (Spencer A. Samuels & Co., Ltd.)
  • Wardwell, Anne E. "The Mystical Grapes, a Devotional Tapestry." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 62, no. 1 (1975): 17-23. p. 17-23 25152571.
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 81 archive.org
    Martin Nagy, Rebecca. Textiles in Daily Life in the Middle Ages. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1985. p. 28, 30-31, 58
    Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.), and Adolph S. Cavallo. Medieval Tapestries in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1993. p. 337, fig. 337
    Cleland, Elizabeth. "Small-Scale Devotional Tapestries—Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries, Part 2: The “Mystic Grapes Group”." Studies in the Decorative Arts 16, no. 2 (2009): 141-64. p. 141-64 www.jstor.org
  • The Tudors: Art and Majesty in Renaissance England. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (co-organizer) (February 26-May 14, 2023).
    Art of Embroidery in Late Medieval Europe (Textile Rotation) - Gallery 115. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 19, 2020-April 11, 2021).
    Only for Beauty? (Textile Rotation) - Gallery 115. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 8, 2014-December 7, 2015).
    Textiles in Daily Life in the Middle Ages. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 22-March 17, 1985).
  • {{cite web|title=The Mystical Grapes|url=false|author=|year=c. 1500|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1973.77