France, 17th Century.

Wool.

Certificate of Authenticity reads below (translated from French) 

I, the undersigned, Pierte- Y ves Machault, expert [C-N-E-S], certify that the tapestry presented by Mr. Abhas Deljam, is a tapestry showing "La Magicienne Armide", a subject which is part of the tapestry of Renaud and Armide, after the painter of the King, Simon Vouet (1590-1649), and woven in the Parisian workshops around 1635-1640.

Simon Vouet had painted different panels of the story of Renaud and Armide, a story taken from the novel

"Jerusalem Delivered", for the Bullion Mansion in Paris. It is from this ensemble, traced on cartoons by Flemish (artisans), that this tapestry of Renaud and Armide was woven, in the workshop of Raphaél de la Planche, and perhaps in the Louvre Galleries.

The tapestry included, at its largest, 12 subjects. The inventory of the Fumiture of the Crown (1663) refers to throe sets of this tapestry. One of them had ben given by Cardinal Richelieu in 1637 to Louis XIII.

Cardinal Barberini owned a tapestry that was onc of the most complete. (The Ffoulke collection, then the McK. Twombly collection, USA)

The scene shows the sorceress Armide, she is dressed in a heavy and rich cloak, and her left hand raised, with a wand in her right hand, she calls forth the powers of hell.

In this version, which is [meant to be hung between windows], one does not see the devil brandishing a lorch. The side borders were eliminated in order to leave only a small border of (ovals]. The top border shows angels flanking a medallion, and in the lower part, two rams' heads flanking a medallion.

The tapestry which mcasures 345 centimeters by 189 centimeters includes restorations