The Abduction of Helen from a set of The Story of Troy probably first half 17th century Chinese, Macao, for export market Embroidered in China, this depiction of the abduction of Helen is monumental both in scale and in the freedom granted to the embroiderers, who included many Chinese motifs and interpretations within a purely Western narrative. A quintessential account in the Western classical tradition, the story of the Trojan War inspired large sets of European tapestries; the earliest documented set was presented to Charles the Bold in 1472.¹ This embroidered hanging, too, was part of a l

The Abduction of Helen from a set of The Story of Troy probably first half 17th century Chinese, Macao, for export market Embroidered in China, this depiction of the abduction of Helen is monumental both in scale and in the freedom granted to the embroiderers, who included many Chinese motifs and interpretations within a purely Western narrative. A quintessential account in the Western classical tradition, the story of the Trojan War inspired large sets of European tapestries; the earliest documented set was presented to Charles the Bold in 1472.¹ This embroidered hanging, too, was part of a large set, of which the Metropolitan Museum owns three, and four are preserved in other collections.² All have the same border, including an armorial at each corner that does not correspond completely with any known arms. Perhaps it is an erroneous rendering of the arms of the Mascarenhas family of Portugal; the nobleman Francisco Mascarenhas served as governor of Macau from 1623 to 1626. The abduction of Helen ignited war between Troy and Greece; this version, in which Helen is forcibly seized, relies on postclassical sources.³ Against a backdrop of European-style buildings with Baroque facades and struggling armored figures, a protesting Helen is carried off by two men, away from her white-bearded husband, Menelaus, and toward a boat on the right where the Trojan prince Paris awaits. No single print source has yet been found, but the subject matter and composition of the hanging were surely based on European sources.⁴The Chinese embroiderers were responsible for many details from the Chinese decorative vocabulary, such as the waves in the background, the phoenixes in the center of the upper border, various details of the armor, the scales of the serpents and tritons in the border, and the lychee fruit seen outlined against the side of the boat. While most of the hanging is embroidered, the figures’ faces and exposed limbs were painted directly on the cotton foundation c

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