Although the Bible states that the Queen of Sheba posed difficult questions to Solomon, their content, not specified in the biblical text, comes from eastern folklore. Here the queen asks Solomon how to tell the boy from the girl in a look-alike pair and the real flower from an identical artificial flower. Solomon replies that the girl will catch the apple in the lap of her dress and the bee will go only to the real flower. The figure of Solomon shows the influence of the Upper Rhenish engraver Master E.S. The unusual and extensive use of Ghiordes knot in the costumes and in the hair of Solomon is thought to be characteristic of Strasbourg workshops.
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Title:Two Riddles of the Queen of Sheba
Date:ca. 1490–1500
Geography:Made in Strasbourg, Upper Rhineland, Germany
Culture:Upper Rhenish
Medium:Linen warp; wool, linen and metallic wefts
Dimensions:31 1/2 in. × 40 in. (80 × 99.7 cm) Plexi Mount: 35 1/2 × 43 × 2 5/8 in. (90.2 × 109.2 × 6.7 cm)
Classification:Textiles-Tapestries
Credit Line:The Cloisters Collection, 1971
Object Number:1971.43
Inscription: (on the Queen's scroll): BESCHEYD MICH KUNIG OB BLUOMEN UND KIND GLISCH AN ART ODER UNGLICH SINT [Translation: Tell me, king, if flowers and children are like, or unlike in their kind]
(on Solomon's scroll): DIE BINE EIN GUOTE BLUOM NIT SPLART DAS KNUWEN ZOIGT DIE WIPLICH ART [Translation: The bee does not miss a real flower. Kneeling shows the female sex]
J. Pierpont Morgan American, London and New York (before 1906–1916) ; [ P. W. French & Co., New York (1916)] ; W. Hinckle Smith, Philadelphia (1916–1970) ; [ P. W. French & Co. New York (1970–sold 1971)]
London. Burlington Fine Arts Club. "Exhibition of Early German Art," 1906.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Patterns of Collecting: Selected Acquisitions, 1965–1975," December 6, 1975–March 23, 1976.
State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts. "Dekorativno-Prikladnoe Iskusstvo ot Pozdnei Antichnosti do Pozdnei Gotiki," June–December 1989.
State Hermitage Museum, Leningrad. "Dekorativno-Prikladnoe Iskusstvo ot Pozdnei Antichnosti do Pozdnei Gotiki," February–July 1990.
Morgan Library & Museum. "Morgan's Bibles," October 20, 2023–January 21, 2024.
Exhibition of Early German Art. London: Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1906. p. 189, no. 11, pl. LXVIII.
Thomson, William George. A History of Tapestry from the Earliest Times until the Present Day. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1906. p. 149.
von der Leyen, Friedrich. "Zu den Ratseln der Konigin von Saba." Beilage zur Allgemeinen Zeitung 175 (October–December 1907). p. 29.
Migeon, Gaston. Les Arts du Tissu. Manuels d'histoire de l'art. Paris: Henri Laurens, 1909. pp. 261, 263, illus.
Hunter, George Leland. Tapestries: Their Origin, History, and Renaissance. New York: John Lane Company, 1912. p. 226.
Pringsheim, Alfred. "Berichte: Sitzungen der Kunstwissenschaftlichen Gesellschaft in München 1913—15." Münchner Jahrbuch der Bildenden Kunst 9 (1914–1915). p. 246.
Schmitz, Hermann. Bild-Teppiche: Geschichte der Gobelinwirkerei. Berlin: Verlag für Kunstwissenschaft, 1921. p. 124.
Burckhardt, Rudolf. Gewirkte Bildteppiche des XV. und XVI. Jahrhunderts im Historischen Museum zu Basel. Leipzig: Historisches Museum Basel, 1923. pp. 51–52, fig. 61.
Hunter, George Leland. The Practical Book of Tapestries. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1925. pp. 209–10, pl. XIVa.
Kurth, Betty. Die deutschen Bildteppiche des Mittelalters. Vol. 1. Vienna: A. Schroll & Co., 1926. pp. 133, 135, 242.
Kurth, Betty. Die deutschen Bildteppiche des Mittelalters. Vol. 2. Vienna: A. Schroll & Co., 1926. pl. 153.
Saxe, Eleanor B. "A Gothic Pile Fabric." Metropolitan Museum Studies 1, no. 1 (1928). pp. 68–70.
Migeon, Gaston. Les Arts du Tissu. Manuels d'histoire de l'art. Revised ed. Paris: Henri Laurens, 1929. pp. 261, 263, ill.
Göbel, Heinrich. Wandteppiche. 3. Teil, Die germanischen und slawischen Länder. Vol. 1. Berlin: Klinkhardt & Biermann, 1933. pp. 100, 193, fig. 76.
Kurth, Betty. "The Riddles of the Queen of Sheba in Swiss and Alsatian Tapestries." The Connoisseur 106, no. 472 (January 1941). pp. 234–35, 266, no. 1.
"Departmental Accessions
." Annual Report of the Trustees of the Metropolitan Museum of Art 101 (July 1, 1970–June 30, 1971). p. 20.
Kajitani, Nobuko. "Two Riddles of the Queen of Sheba: Technical Notes." Metropolitan Museum Journal 6 (1972). pp. 97–103, fig. 1–9.
Ostoia, Vera K. "Two Riddles of the Queen of Sheba." Metropolitan Museum Journal 6 (1972). pp. 73–96, fig. 1.
Raggio, Olga, ed. "Medieval Art and the Cloisters." Notable Acquisitions (Metropolitan Museum of Art) no. 1965/1975 (1975). p. 164.
Daum, Werner, ed. Die Königin von Saba: Kunst, Legende und Archäologie Zwischen Morgenland und Abendland. Stuttgart: Belser Verlag, 1988. pp. 20, 22, 28, illus.
Pushkin Museum and State Hermitage Museum. Dekorativno-Prikladnoe Iskusstvo ot Pozdnei Antichnosti do Pozdnei Gotiki: Kratkii Katalog Vystavki. Moscow: Pushkin Museum, 1990. no. 69, pp. 13, 43, fig. 69.
State Hermitage Museum. Dekorativno-Prikladnoe Iskusstvo ot Pozdnei Antichnosti do Pozdnei Gotiki. St. Petersburg: State Hermitage Museum, 1990. no. 69, pp. 144–45.
Cavallo, Adolfo S. Medieval Tapestries in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1993. no. 59, pp. 15, 648–53.
Boehm, Barbara Drake. "Textiles in The Metropolitan Museum of Art." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 53, no. 3 (Winter 1995-1996). p. 44.
Hourihane, Colum P., ed. The Grove Encyclopedia of Medieval Art and Architecture. Vol. 5. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012. p. 18, pl. II, fig. 1.
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