The Western news., 1904-07-27
SOME ART TREASURES,
Fabulous Sums Paid for Tapestries
by Rich Americans.

Fabulous Sums Paid for Tapestries
by Rich Americans.
When 1t was announced awhile ago
that the set Of Aeneas and Dido tapes
tries from the Barberini palace were
sold for 100000 to John R. Mclean, of
Washington, the statement was made
that this was the record price in Amer
lea for sale Of this kind, says the
New York Press. In view Of the fact
that there were eight pieces in the set,
ranging from ID by 13 feet to 13 by 20
feet, this figure is small in comparison
with that paid by other men OF wealth
In this country for tapestries.
There are two small textile pieces
now in this city that are valued at $685.
600. For their size they are probably
the costliest in the world.
These tapestries are by 8 feet in
size and make small bundle that,
tied up in cotton cloth, reposes In a
safe deposit vault, only to be brought
out on rare occasions to the sight Of
a prospective buyer. The dealer who
owns them admits there are not more
than four men in America who are
likely to buy them. They were made
III the Gobelin factory in Paris, and
are after designs by Boucher, one rep
! resenting man attending a woman
seated in a swing, the other group of
men and women lying in picturesque
attitudes in parklike landscape. The
| costumes are in the manner Of Wat
teau and the coloring is exquisitely
soft and lovely.
In the William c. Whitney house is
probably the finest collection Of tapes
tries in this city, If not in America.
Just what they cost few persons know
for Mr.. Whitney always was averse to
telling what he paid for his art OBJ
jects, one Of his favorite replies to in
guiries being: I'D be ashamed to tel,
you"
Col. Oliver H. Payne, Mr.. Whitney 3
brother-in-law, has a Gothic tapestry
hanging in the drawing-room OF his
Fifth avenue home that cost $65, ,OOO
1t is behind glass, and represents the
finest work Of the looms Of Arras, In
Flanders.
Clarence H. Mackay has set Of six
Italian tapestries that cost him more
than S25O,OO0. for a local dealer paid
that sum for them in Paris before they
passed into Mr.. Mackay's possession,
two years ago. Paris, which Is the
European clearing house for textiles Of
this nature, has, in the words OF an
expert, "gone mad over the prices at
which they hold these things. One 9x12
Gobelin tapestry now in that city is
valued at $15OOO0-an enormous sum.
considering It's size.
NJ. Mckay Twombly has a set of
five pieces of Flemish tapestries for
which he paid $125OOO, and e. T. Bar
ney has four pieces for which he gave
the same amount. Mrs. Charles r.
Sprague, of Boston, paid $4,000 for
three pieces of Flemish tapestry, and
Bayard Thayer, of the same city. has
collection that almost rivals that in
the Whitney house for beauty and cost
James Henry (SilenD Smith bought.
Mt the sale Of the Marquand collection
in this city last year, one Flemish
tapestry for which he paid $24 4,OOO. The
| tapestries sold at that time brought
considerably more than 100000, the
record for a public sale in this country.
The finest tapestry in the world is
owned by j. Pierpont Morgan, but it
may never come to this country, owing
to the prohibitive duty imposed on such
things. He paid $4,000 for 1t, and
keeps it in his London home, from
which it was taken at the coronat ton
Of King Edward VII. to aid in the dec
grafton Of Westminster Abbey.
One Of the curious things about
these old tapestries Is that ordinary
usage improves them. 1t has been
shown in many instances that where
they have been kept in rooms seldom
opened to the air and sunlight the
colors Of the fabrics have deteriorated
SO much as to make them less valuable
than they otherwise would have been.
The tapestries Of the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries heretofore have
been the ones most eagerly sought after
by collectors, but at the present day
the rare ones Of the fifteenth century
are most in demand. Owners Of the
| few of them In existence can ask any
| price they please and get 1t; but 1t Is