The Spinning Top

The Spinning Top

Southern Dutch workshops ? 
lat 15th - early 16th centuries
Tapestry, wool and silk
Carton from Henri Baude
H. 1.60 m; W. 1.80 m
Gift of the ARMMA 
with the support of the Senate
Cl. 23752

A text appears on a scroll with a red background:
"I spin under the hand of others and never rest, neither evening nor morning, because the one who spins me returns so suddenly without waiting for today or tomorrow."

These are the words of the spinning top. Indeed the subject of this new acquisition for the Museum, thanks to the support of its friends, is a tapestry made of wool and silk, made truly original in both subject and origin. The Baude's Dictz are known through many manuscripts of proverbs, some of which are illustrated. The best drawings are in the BNF French manuscript which was owned by the powerful Robertet family. This collection, created around 1510, also includes poetry attributed to François Robertet, Secretary of the Duke of Bourbon. Both were part of the Rhétoriqueurs world, men of letters, mixing allegory and fable to create often moralising secular imagery intended for laypeople. Sky above, earth below. The lines of vision converge at a hand, emerging from the clouds, which has just tossed a spinning top onto a table covered with a striped cloth. Three other tops, either spinning or abandoned, are scattered on the ground. The square tiles of the floor accentuate perspective. The upper part of the tapestry is embellished by the scenery , a view of the city and castle. The lower part is a simple millefleurs border. Toy of chance, toy of fate, that is the destiny of man on earth, according to Baude.

This tapestry, medium-sized and a of ordinary weave, is an example of home decor at the end of the Middle Ages. It fits in well in the room dedicated to leisure and games in the Middle Ages.