Two Riddles of the Queen of Sheba
Unknown Artist
ca. 1490–1500
Medium
Linen warp; wool, linen and metallic wefts
Dimensions
31 1/2 in. × 40 in. (80 × 99.7 cm) Plexi Mount: 35 1/2 × 43 × 2 5/8 in. (90.2 × 109.2 × 6.7 cm)
Classification
Textiles-Tapestries
Culture
Upper Rhenish
Department
The Cloisters
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Cloisters Collection, 1971
Accession Number
1971.43
Tags
Art Historical Context
This exquisite tapestry, *Two Riddles of the of Sheba*, hails from the Upper Rhenish region around 1490–1500, a time when late Gothic artistry flourished along the Rhine Valley in present-day Germany and Switzerland.oven in The Cloisters Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, captures a pivotal biblical episode from the Old Testament: the Queen of Sheba's famed visit to King Solomon, she tests his wisdom with clever riddles. Vivid figures of kings, queens, men, and women populate the scene, surrounded by symbolic motifs like blooming roses and ripe apples, evoking themes of wisdom, fert...