Depicting the pastoral idyll enlivened by bawdy rustics, this tapestry of bold design and vivid colouring reflects the lavish artistry and lewd humour of the early 17^th century.

The tapestry, titled Femme mangeant sa soupe (The woman eating soup), is the first of eight in the celebrated series Les Amours de Gombault et Macée and dates from the early 17^th century. Attributed to the Bruges workshops due to the presence of the city’s mark of a weaver’s shuttle on several tapestries, the series narrates the milestones and erotic awakening of shepherds and shepherdesses as they progress through life, each scene narrated by ribald inscriptions written in old French. The narrative has long been thought to be based on the ‘Dicts moraux pour mettre en tapisserie’ by 15^th century French poet Henri Baude. Tapestries on the theme of Gombault and Macée appear in French inventories as early as 1532 and the French origin of the tale is evident in the written inscriptions. The surviving examples indicate a date for this and other tapestries in the series around the turn of the 16^th and 17^th centuries. The skilful depiction of foliage and animals in the fore and background recalls the verdure tapestries in whose production the Bruges workshops particularly excelled.

The popularity of this subject in the early 1600s is reflected by the existence of a series of prints illustrating the story of Gombault and Macée by Jean Leclerc as well as the commissioning of cartoons from Laurent Guyot by the Parisian tapestry workshops and the mention of such tapestries in the collection of the finance minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert (1619-1683). Two related tapestries with the Bruges city mark are preserved alongside others of the series in the Musée d'art et d'histoire de Saint-Lô (inv. 1840.02.005, 1840.02.006) in Normandy. With some minor variation in colour and specific features of the figures and details, the overall compositions are identical to the present tapestry. Other tapestries from this series have been sold at Christie’s, London, 12 July 1984, lot 272 and Christie's, London, 21 September 2022, lot 51 (£100,800).