Published: 20240725
A community dedicated to preserving Japan's historical treasures contacted the National Museum – Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania. Specialists from the Koiyama Preservation Society searched archives, museum collections, and private holdings around the world for historically significant tapestries important to Japan, and they found some in Lithuania, at the National Museum – Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania.
The Japanese became interested in several historical tapestries when they researched the decorations used in the 1,100-year-old Kyoto festival known as "Koi Yama." One of Japan's largest festivals, Gion Matsuri, is famous for its colourful decorations and processions. On 24 July, the theatrical "Koi Yama" float appears. This float, named after the koi fish (Japanese: koi), is a Shinto shrine adorned with a wooden carving of a koi and curtains made from fragments of a 16th-century tapestry woven in Belgium. In Japan, the koi fish is revered as a symbol of strength and faith, representing the ability to overcome life's challenges. One legend tells of a koi that swam to the top of a waterfall and miraculously transformed into a dragon.
The origins of the Gion Matsuri festival, held in Kyoto, Japan's ancient capital, date back to 869 AD. It began with a goryō-e ritual, ordered by the emperor to appease malevolent spirits believed to have caused a deadly plague during the sweltering midsummer. This month-long festival intertwines deities, myths, legends, ancient history, culture, and modern Japanese life. The processions are divided into the "early festival" (saki matsuri), which features 23 floats, and the "later festival" (ato matsuri), showcasing the remaining 11.
These stylised floats in Japan are also called "mobile museums" due to their elaborate textiles, woodwork, and metal details. During their research, the Japanese discovered that one of the original tapestries adorning a float, along with another artistic textile, may have come from Rome. It is believed that they were gifts from Pope Paul V to Date Masamune's vassal, Hasekura Tsunenaga, during a diplomatic mission to Rome, as Masamune was a supporter of Catholicism in Japan. It is not precisely known when the tapestry fragments were used to decorate the float, but the Japanese claim that the curtains made from the fabric are replicas, while the original historical textile is preserved separately.
Researchers, having found identical tapestries in global databases that match those at the National Museum – Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania, contacted museum specialists to gather additional information. Dalius Avižinis, head of the museum's collections department, stated: "The Japanese were interested in the tapestries held at the National Museum – Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania, namely Agamemnon before the Altar of Apollo and Priam before the City of Troy, from the History of the Trojan War series. These tapestries are part of the museum's collection of 16th-18th century tapestries. In total, we house 34 historical artistic textiles in Vilnius”.
Professor Dr Ieva Kuizinienė, the museum's chief cultural historian, confirmed that the tapestry Agamemnon before the Altar of Apollo in Vilnius was created by an unknown artist based on 16th-century designs (cartoons) by Michiel Coxcie I. It was common practice at the time to weave several, sometimes dozens, of copies of the most popular designs.
The tapestry, woven from wool and silk in Brussels by Frans van den Hecke I's workshop in the early 17th century (1620–1630), was purchased by the Lithuanian National Museum of Art in 2007 for the future National Museum – Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania. The second tapestry, Priam before the City of Troy, was acquired from the same antique dealer, Fiorini Antichita, in Florence, Italy. After being restored at the Pranas Gudynas Restoration Centre by Danguolė Daugirdienė, both tapestries were handed over to the National Museum – Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania.
The tapestries from the History of the Trojan War series, which connect these two distant countries, are on display in the museum's Renaissance antechamber. Today, museum guides can share the story of these historical textiles with Japanese tourists visiting Lithuania.
