On Wednesday 6 May 2015, at 18: 00 o’clock, Gallery Moshe Tabibnia will host the presentation of the volume Textile Art Masterpieces: Tapestries and Embroideries in the Zaleski Collection, published in Italian and English editions. 

The book includes scholarly essays and catalogue entries of nearly eighty textile artefacts belonging to the Zaleski Collection, a remarkable gathering comprising other types of objects as well. The Zaleski Collection has many things in common with The Burrell Collection in Glasgow, above all the collector’s penchant for artworks mirroring the late-Gothic aesthetics. 

Like a catalogue raisonné, this volume provides a full picture of the Zaleski Collection as was in early 2014, and therefore includes all the additions made since the beginning of its formation in the 1990s. Indeed, this gathering is one of the largest and finest private collections in Europe. As such, it can be regarded as an anthology of the most beautiful and interesting historic textile artefacts that appeared on the International antique market in recent years. 

Textile Art Masterpieces: Tapestries and Embroideries in the Zaleski Collection is divided in three parts. The first part comprises of introductory texts presenting the collection as a whole. The second part contains the catalogue entries. Finally, the third part includes analytical data sheets complementing the catalogue entries.

Leafing through the pages of this book it is possible to discover the distinctive quality of the collection presented, and understand the criteria adopted by its patrons to select the works that they wanted collect . This array of antique tapestries and embroideries was assembled by the French engineer Romain Zaleski, better known as an entrepreneur and financier than as an art patron since his professional accomplishments overshadowed his connoisseurship of historic textile artefacts, which he loves and collects. Together with his wife, Hélène de Prittwitz, Romain Zaleski has given shape to a wonderful collection of tapestries and embroideries, which mirror their fine taste and acute ability to recognise beauty in these types of artefacts, which are valuable yet belong to a sphere that is little known.

It should be noted that Moshe Tabibnia contributed significantly to the formation of this collection in that he collaborated with the owners as an advisor and, not least, helped them to ‘increase their knowledge’, as Zaleski acknowledged in an interview.

With the professionalism and scientific rigour characterising his work as an antique textile art dealer, Moshe Tabibnia has sponsored scholarly research and the study of some of the earliest textile artefacts in Europe. Moshe Tabibnia’s commitment to promote scholarly research aimed at bringing original contributions to knowledge paved the way for this publication of Textile Art Masterpieces: Tapestries and Embroideries of the Zaleski Collection authored by Nello Forti Grazzini, Chiara Buss, and Gian Luca Bovenzi, and edited by Moshe Tabibnia and Elisabetta Mero. Through the analysis of nearly eighty splendid pieces of work, most of which are unpublished, the authors brought to light elements offering new perspectives for the study of antique textile artefacts. Furthermore, in their essays they disclosed the history and manufacturing techniques of the tapestries and embroideries examined.

In this volume the part dedicated to tapestries, which is entirely authored by the distinguished scholar Nello Forti Grazzini, is divided in five sections, ‘Gothic Tapestries from Switzerland and Germany’, ‘Tapestries from Brussels and the Franco-Flemish Area’, ‘Millefleurs, Verdure, and Large-Leaf Tapestries’, ‘Narrative and Allegorical Tapestries’, and ‘Furnishing Tapestries: Cushion Covers and Table Cover’. The part dedicated to embroideries is divided in two thematic sections. More particularly, the embroideries representing a religious theme are analysed by Gian Luca Bovenzi, art historian specialising in embroidery, whilst the pieces of work representing profane themes are discussed by Chiara Buss, Textile Art Historian (CIETA, Lyon). All sections are preceded by an essay providing information about the context in which the textile artefacts under examination originated, and their history. Each artefact is presented individually in the appropriate section within the relevant catalogue entry, which is accompanied by a photographic reproduction of the work in question and detail enlargements. Images of comparable examples preserved in foremost museums around the world are also reproduced. The book ends with the last part that includes the analytical data sheets providing detailed information about the materials and technique, provenance, publications, and exhibitions of every tapestry and embroidery presented.