A SAVONNERIE CARPET

FRANCE, CIRCA 1910

Details

A SAVONNERIE CARPET
France, Circa 1910
The beige field with polychrome floral swags around a square medallion containing a central roundel, framed by laurel wreath, in an ivory border of scrolling acanthus and acanthus cartouches, laurel leaf stripes, good condition
9 ft. 2 in. x 8 ft.6 in. (279 cm. x 259 cm.)

Provenance

Duc de Gramont, Paris, sold Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 22 May 1925, lot 73.
With Duveen Brothers, London, 1933.
Anna Thompson Dodge, Rose Terrace, Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan, sold in these Rooms, 24 June 1971, lot 137.
The J. Paul Getty Museum, sold Christie's New York, 30-31 October 1996, lot 321.

Literature

J. Baden, La Manufacture de tapisseries de Beauvais, Paris, 1909, p. 60.
C. Bremer-David, Decorative Arts, An Illustrated Summary Catalogue of the Collections of the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, 1993, p. 173, no. 296.
Duveen and Co., A Catalogue of Works of Art of the Eighteenth Century in the Collection of Anna Thompson Dodge, Detroit, 1933, intro. pp. III - IV, Illus.
N. Forty Grazzini, Gli Arazzi, Il patrimonio artistico del Quirinale, Rome, 1994, vol. II, p. 494.
A. Sassoon and G. Wilson, Decorative Arts, A Handbook of the Collections of the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, 1986, p. 103, fig. 219.

Exhibited

London, 25 Park Lane, Three French Reigns, February - April 1933, no. 528, pl. 88.
San Marino, California, The Henry E Huntington Library and Art Gallery, January - July 1989.

Lot Essay

One of two series commissioned by Louis XV in 1737, the Histoire de Psych was the second major series designed by Franois Boucher for the Royal Beauvais Tapestry Manufacture after the Ftes Italiennes. The commission was to produce this series with des moins rpts et des plus susceptibles de richesse et d'agrment et des plus propres faire valoir l'art de Tapissier in six subjects at a total length of 20 aunes (circa 24 meters). La Toilette de Psych was one of five subjects from this series woven from 1741 - 1770 under the administration of Nicolas Besnier and the direction of Jean-Baptiste Oudry (1734 - 1753). The first cartoon (it is not known why only five instead of six were designed) was included in the Paris Salon of 1739, while La Toilette was completed in 1741. The series was repeatedly woven between 1742 and 1770 while this subject is recorded was woven ten times.

For other examples depicting La Toilette, including the version in the royal collection in Stockholm, see J. Coural and C. Gastinal-Coural, Beauvais Manufacture nationale de Tapisserie, Mobilier national, 1992, p. 45, fig. 23, and N. Forti Grazzini, Gli Arazzi, Il patrimonio artistico del Quirinale, Rome, 1994, vol. II, p. 495. A panel of identical subject, but reduced in a different manner, from the property f the Rt. Hon. the Earl of Iveagh, K.G. [+], Pyrford Court, Woking, Surrey, was sold in these Rooms, 4-5 June 1968, lot 206.

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