Background: Until the late 1950’s, the tapestries hung in the luxuriousWashington, DC, home of Andrew W. Mellon, the famous American bankerbusinessmanwho established the Mellon National Bank and who served asSecretary of the Treasury under presidents Harding, Coolidge and Hoover. Mr.Mellon was also the founder of the National Gallery of Art and spent the last yearsof his life planning its construction. (The National Gallery, located in Washington,DC, is now part of the Smithsonian Institution.)Although Mr. Mellon died in 1937, his estate retained ownership of his home andfurnishings until the late 1950’s, when an estate sale was held. At that time, thetapestries passed into the hands of a private orientalia collector, Mr. B. JamesFritz, of York, Pennsylvania, who in 1993 consigned the pieces for sale byWeschler’s, the prominent Washington, DC, auction house. For unknown reasons,the tapestries were pulled from Weschler’s auction before sale, and they wereeventually purchased in 1995 by the current owners who live in Potomac,Maryland.While it is uncertain how the tapestries came into the possession of Mr. Mellon, itcould very well have been through the extensive collection efforts of Lord JosephDuveen, head of the international art brokerage firm Duveen Brothers. LordDuveen was influential in forming several outstanding art collections in the U.S.,including those of Messrs. Frick, Bache, Widener, Morgan, Altman, Kress andMellon. In 1936, Lord Duveen leased an apartment at 1785 MassachusettsAvenue, Washington, DC, on a floor below an apartment owned by Mr. Mellon.Lord Duveen leased this apartment specifically to display a 42-item Western artcollection for Mr. Mellon’s benefit. Mellon subsequently bought the entirecollection from Duveen for $21 million dollars and donated it to the nation, thusforming the basis for the new National Gallery of Art. It is probable that, in hisinternational art collection efforts, Lord Duveen acquired the tapestries and offeredthem to Mr. Mellon.H: 129inches/327.66cm X2 W:64inches/162cmX2