Valance with Chigi coat of arms
Unknown Artist
mid-17th century
Medium
Red silk cut velvet appliqued with linen and silk rep weave outlined with couched gilt and cotton cording ending in tassels.
Dimensions
Incl. fringe: 32 3/4 x 91 in (82 x 231.1 cm)
Classification
Textiles-Velvets
Culture
Italian
Department
Robert Lehman Collection
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Robert Lehman Collection, 1975
Accession Number
1975.1.2404
Art Historical Context
Step into the opulent world of 17th-century nobility with this stunning *Valance with Chigi coat of arms a lavish textile from the mid-1600s now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Robert Lehman Collection. Measuring an impressive 32¾ x 91 inches including its fringe, this valancelikely the decorative top border of a grand bed canopy or window drapery—served as a bold display of family prestige. The Chigi family, a powerful Sienese banking dynasty that rose to papal heights with Pope Alexander VII (r. 1655–1667), emblazoned their heraldic crest here, symbolizing wealth, power, and piety in Bar...