Exoticism in the New Indies Tapestries

The prized New Indies series is made up of six pieces, with plants and fauna muted by the combination of varieties that create an original combination. 

The taste for exoticism is highlighted in the tropical setting of the Fishermen tapestry.

The fusion of African and South American elements is evident in the main characters.

In the lower part of the tapestry, two fishermen are depicted pulling their nets.

They wear headdresses, decorated with red and blue bands of rolled-up and threaded feathers. These were typical of the Brazilian Tapuya tribes and it can be seen in a painting by the Dutch artist Albert Eckhout, held in Copenhagen.

Above is an archer, poised to shoot an arrow. 

His head is adorned with blue and yellow feathers, and he wears a blue kilt with a yellow pattern.

The arrowhead is oddly star shaped. 

The same weapon can be found in another painting by Eckhout, that portrays an Indian Tupinambá.

Next to the archer, there is a young girl lifting a basket of flowers and lemons.

The shape and decoration of the basket is reminiscent of the craftsmanship of the Bacongo tribes of Central Africa.

The tapestry is characterized by its luxuriant vegetation of maize, pumpkins, and melons.

In the background is a palm tree entwined in grape shoots.

Next to the palm tree is the trunk of a banana tree with broad leaves and full of fruit. Peeping out from amongst the branches is an Amazonian monkey: the marmoset.

A flying pheasant is depicted in fine detail.

The same goes for the hocco, a typical dark bird with a crest from America.

Even in the Elephant tapestry, the factual precision and accurate reproduction of plants, animals, and fruits are reduced by their juxtaposition with subjects from different habitats and environments.

This results in a completely spectacular exotic treasury.

In the scene of the river bend, a female figure and a child with African characteristics are depicted in the foreground on the right. They are surrounded by tropical fruits, including melons, pumpkins, bunches of grapes, and pineapples, as well as a jeniparana, a Brazilian plant, which the child is holding under its arm.

The woman is wearing a flashy headdress with peacock feathers, identified as the work of Indonesian craftsmanship. Her pearl earrings and the pipe in her belt are similar to those in Albert Eckhout's Portrait of an African Woman (Ritratto di Donna Africana), also held in Copenhagen.

On the left, behind a leafy cashew tree, there is a rich collection of fauna which is arranged in sequence: an African elephant, a horse, a tiger, two eagles, a peacock, a boa snake, an owl, a stork, and a bird with a spoonbill (spoonbill crane).

This fusion of animals belonging to different habitats is also apparent in the unique combination found on the lower part of the tapestry. On the right, an ibis, a bird that was quite widespread in North Africa at the time, is depicted next to an aguti, a small Amazonian rodent.

The repertoire of fauna is further enriched by the Zebra tapestry in the Room of Drusus (Sala di Druso), which shows a dramatic nature scene within a landscape that is full of aquatic species.

At the heart of the scene lies a wild zebra mauled by a jaguar. This allows viewers to admire the extraordinary realism that characterizes these tapestries. 

The zebra has its hooves raised, its head turned back, and its mouth open in an expression of pain.

The intensity of the moment is also captured by the antelope which, sensing the danger, is beginning to flee.

The landscape is dominated by a majestic tree in the center, the Cassia grandis, whose fruits are similar to long beans. It is populated by numerous birds, including a peacock, an owl, a sea eagle, and a cockatoo, which are widespread in Indonesia.

The landscape is also packed with aquatic species which crowd below, near a small waterfall: there is a turtle, a shrimp, various crabs, all kinds of brightly colored fish, and a large mullet.

The fish, known in the 1700s by the Indian name cuacucua, can be identified by its pointed horn.

Among the fish is a curious specimen with the face of a bird. This is an imaginative interpretation of the porcupinefish.

At the top of the waterfall, the unworldly flying fish can be seen.

Five tapestries from this spectacular series hang in the Hall of the Zodiac (Sala dello Zodiaco) and one in the Hall of Drusus (Sala di Druso). 

The six pieces were woven in Paris in the Gobelins Royal Manufactory.

The first tapestry in the series, the oldest, is dedicated to the flora and fauna of Brazil and Latin America.

The figures are taken from the 1648 work Historia naturalis Brasiliae, which brings together the investigations carried out in Brazil and an anthology of fauna, botanical, and anthropological rarities.

The group of tapestries held in the Quirinal Palace are the third in the series. They were produced in Jacques Neilson's atelier between 1771 and 1786 on cartoons painted by François Desportes between 1735–1737 and 1741.

The third weaving was enriched with European and African animals.

The rigorous reproduction of plants and fauna are muted by the combination of varieties from different contexts, thereby creating an original combination.

The extraordinary realism of the tropical environment of the New World and the imaginative compositions of plants and animals attest to the 18th-century taste for exoticism.

King Louis XVI of France donated the tapestries to Ferdinand III and Maria Beatrice d’Este, dukes of Modena, in 1786.