17th-18th Century European Wool Tapestry Fragment: Throned Man in Cape with Giant Quill Pen?! antique lawn aerator shoes and so contemporary

and so contemporary

who signed his name to the front

and kicked up legs in what looks rather like a tutu poking out the back

I have also found a few of these online described as hair combs or hair forks

but this is of a different ilk

17th-18th Century European Wool Tapestry Fragment: Throned Man in Cape with Giant Quill Pen?! antique lawn aerator shoes and so contemporaryI purchased this one from a dealer in Maine who always has wonderful things from all over the world, including lots of beautiful old textiles. Based on others I have looked at, I believe this wool tapestry fragment is most likely French or Flemish, dating to either the later 17th or early 18th century. In addition to just loving things this old, perhaps textiles most of all carrying the presence of time and labor and the hand so intimately across