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Lot Essay
SUBJECT
This tapestry forming part of the exotic and highly elaborate Histoire de l'Empereur de la Chine set illustrates everyday life of the Chinese Emperor, believed to be Shun Chih (reigned 1644 - 1661) and Kang Hsi (reigned from 1661 - 1721) and their Empresses. Many of the images are based on Johan Nieuhof's Legatio batavica ad magnum Tartatiae chamum sungteium, modernum sinae imperatorem of 1665, which derived from the visit of a delegation of the Dutch East India Company to China from 1655 - 1657. For the botanical details Athanasius Kircher's China Monumentis qua Sacris qua Profanis of 1667 seems to have served as inspiration. His work specifically depicts a scene illustrating the harvest of pineapples. As its title 'Roi de Chine' implied, the series was meant to illustrate the Chinese Royal Court, but many influences from other Far Eastern countries are discernable. The artists were keen to incorporate as many 'documented' exotic objects as possible in these tapestries.
THE DESIGNERS AND FIRST WEAVING
The first set of L'Histoire de l'Empereur de la Chine, consisting of nine or ten subjects, was woven when Philippe Behagle (d. 1705) was the directeur of the Royal Beauvais Tapestry Manufactory. In a memorandum of tapestries made during his directorship Behagle mentions this series: 'Chinoise faict par quatre illustre peintre'. Noël-Antoine Mérou (director 1722 - 1734) further reveals in a document of 1731 : 'Une Tenture du dessin des chinois, par les sieurs Batiste, Fontenay et Vernensal, en six pièces'. The painters referred to are Guy Vernansal (d. 1729), the flower-painter Jean-Baptiste Belin de Fontenay (d. 1715) and Baptiste (the name used by contemporaries for the flower-painter Jean-Baptiste Monnoyer (d. 1699)) and an unidentified fourth painter. Vernansal's signature on various models implies that he was the main designer of the series while the exact dating of the first woven set is difficult to ascertain with certainty. It is probable that it was after Behagle took over the directorship in 1684 but before Monnoyer left for England in 1690. A further undated memorandum by Behagle states that the first set, woven with gold-thread (rarely used by Beauvais) was 'vendu par M. d'Isrode à Monseigneur le duc du Maine (Louis-Auguste de Bourbon, d. 1736)' for 20,000 livres. M. d'Isrode, who later had two further sets made, acted as an intermediary, while the set was actually manufactured for Louis-Auguste de Bourbon, duc du Maine (1670 - 1736). The popular series was finally abandoned at Beauvais in 1732, when the cartoons were so worn that they could no longer serve their purpose.
ORIGINS
The success of the series was undoubtedly due to the increased interest in China at the end of the 17th Century, which was already manifested with the importation of enormous quantities of goods from the Far East to France by the Compagnie des Indes Orientales. The enthusiasm was further heightened when the Mercure Galant published a long description of the travels of father Couplet to China in 1684. The young duc du Maine, the legitimized son of Louis XIV and Madame de Montespan, met the Jesuit Couplet (d. 1693) and his Chinese convert, Michael Alphonsus Shen Fu-Tsung (d. 1691), when they first returned from China and was deeply interested in his adventures A second event that possibly arose even more interest was Louis XIV's glamorous reception at Versailles for the ambassadors of Siam on 1 September 1686 who had been sent by the King of Siam Phra Narai (d. 1688). Among the participants in the reception at Versailles was again the duc du Maine, illustrated in an etching in the Almanach Royal of 1687 recording the presenting of the gifts to Louis XIV. The ambassadors of Siam are even recorded visiting the site of the Beauvais Tapestry Workshop in October of 1686. Proof for the duc du Maine's immense fascination with the Far East is further that he met with the Jesuit Joachim Bouvet (d. 1730), who was being sent by Louis XIV to Siam, prior to leaving to give him a scientific instrument that had been made for his own. In this sinophile environment, the Beauvais workshop found a ready audience for its new tapestry series.
COMPARABLE EXAMPLES
An example of this scene, presented by the Compagnie des Secétaires du Roi to Joseph-Jean Baptiste Fleuriau d'Armenonville, Garde des Sceaux de France, in 1724, and bearing his arms within wide borders, sold at Christie's Monaco from the collection of Akram Ojjeh, 11-12 December 1999, lot 61, and subsequently Sotheby's New York, 23 May 2003, lot 91.
This tapestry forming part of the exotic and highly elaborate Histoire de l'Empereur de la Chine set illustrates everyday life of the Chinese Emperor, believed to be Shun Chih (reigned 1644 - 1661) and Kang Hsi (reigned from 1661 - 1721) and their Empresses. Many of the images are based on Johan Nieuhof's Legatio batavica ad magnum Tartatiae chamum sungteium, modernum sinae imperatorem of 1665, which derived from the visit of a delegation of the Dutch East India Company to China from 1655 - 1657. For the botanical details Athanasius Kircher's China Monumentis qua Sacris qua Profanis of 1667 seems to have served as inspiration. His work specifically depicts a scene illustrating the harvest of pineapples. As its title 'Roi de Chine' implied, the series was meant to illustrate the Chinese Royal Court, but many influences from other Far Eastern countries are discernable. The artists were keen to incorporate as many 'documented' exotic objects as possible in these tapestries.
THE DESIGNERS AND FIRST WEAVING
The first set of L'Histoire de l'Empereur de la Chine, consisting of nine or ten subjects, was woven when Philippe Behagle (d. 1705) was the directeur of the Royal Beauvais Tapestry Manufactory. In a memorandum of tapestries made during his directorship Behagle mentions this series: 'Chinoise faict par quatre illustre peintre'. Noël-Antoine Mérou (director 1722 - 1734) further reveals in a document of 1731 : 'Une Tenture du dessin des chinois, par les sieurs Batiste, Fontenay et Vernensal, en six pièces'. The painters referred to are Guy Vernansal (d. 1729), the flower-painter Jean-Baptiste Belin de Fontenay (d. 1715) and Baptiste (the name used by contemporaries for the flower-painter Jean-Baptiste Monnoyer (d. 1699)) and an unidentified fourth painter. Vernansal's signature on various models implies that he was the main designer of the series while the exact dating of the first woven set is difficult to ascertain with certainty. It is probable that it was after Behagle took over the directorship in 1684 but before Monnoyer left for England in 1690. A further undated memorandum by Behagle states that the first set, woven with gold-thread (rarely used by Beauvais) was 'vendu par M. d'Isrode à Monseigneur le duc du Maine (Louis-Auguste de Bourbon, d. 1736)' for 20,000 livres. M. d'Isrode, who later had two further sets made, acted as an intermediary, while the set was actually manufactured for Louis-Auguste de Bourbon, duc du Maine (1670 - 1736). The popular series was finally abandoned at Beauvais in 1732, when the cartoons were so worn that they could no longer serve their purpose.
ORIGINS
The success of the series was undoubtedly due to the increased interest in China at the end of the 17th Century, which was already manifested with the importation of enormous quantities of goods from the Far East to France by the Compagnie des Indes Orientales. The enthusiasm was further heightened when the Mercure Galant published a long description of the travels of father Couplet to China in 1684. The young duc du Maine, the legitimized son of Louis XIV and Madame de Montespan, met the Jesuit Couplet (d. 1693) and his Chinese convert, Michael Alphonsus Shen Fu-Tsung (d. 1691), when they first returned from China and was deeply interested in his adventures A second event that possibly arose even more interest was Louis XIV's glamorous reception at Versailles for the ambassadors of Siam on 1 September 1686 who had been sent by the King of Siam Phra Narai (d. 1688). Among the participants in the reception at Versailles was again the duc du Maine, illustrated in an etching in the Almanach Royal of 1687 recording the presenting of the gifts to Louis XIV. The ambassadors of Siam are even recorded visiting the site of the Beauvais Tapestry Workshop in October of 1686. Proof for the duc du Maine's immense fascination with the Far East is further that he met with the Jesuit Joachim Bouvet (d. 1730), who was being sent by Louis XIV to Siam, prior to leaving to give him a scientific instrument that had been made for his own. In this sinophile environment, the Beauvais workshop found a ready audience for its new tapestry series.
COMPARABLE EXAMPLES
An example of this scene, presented by the Compagnie des Secétaires du Roi to Joseph-Jean Baptiste Fleuriau d'Armenonville, Garde des Sceaux de France, in 1724, and bearing his arms within wide borders, sold at Christie's Monaco from the collection of Akram Ojjeh, 11-12 December 1999, lot 61, and subsequently Sotheby's New York, 23 May 2003, lot 91.