AFTER A DESIGN BY GUY VERNANSAL, JEAN-BAPTISTE BELIN DE FONTENAY AND JEAN-BAPTISTE MONNOYER, LATE 17TH/EARLY 18TH CENTURY

Details

A LOUIS XIV BEAUVAIS TAPESTRY
AFTER A DESIGN BY GUY VERNANSAL, JEAN-BAPTISTE BELIN DE FONTENAY AND JEAN-BAPTISTE MONNOYER, LATE 17TH/EARLY 18TH CENTURY
Woven in wools, silks and silver thread, depicting 'The Return from the Hunt' (Le retour de la chasse) from the series L'histoire de l'Empereur de la Chine, the background depicting a blue sky with birds above a large lambrequin supported by a two-arched canopy before a richly-decorated tent containing a monumental silver throne surmounted by ostrich feathers with an attendant to its left, the foreground with three figures in Chinoiserie dress on an elaborately woven polychrome carpet standing before a man on his knees before an incense burner and offerings of game, the border with stylized leaves; reduced in size, areas of reweaving, restorations
141 in. (358 cm.) high, 105 in. (267 cm.) wide

Provenance

The Collection of the Rothschild family.
By descent to the present owners.

Literature

C. de Nicolay-Mazery, Visites privées, hôtels particuliers de Paris, Paris, 1999, p. 9 and 12.

Conditions of sale

Lot Essay

The present lot forms part of the exotic and highly elaborate l'Histoire de l'Empereur de la Chine series, illustrating the life of the Chinese Emperor, believed to be either the Emperor Shunzhi (reigned 1643 to 1661) or the Emperor Kangxi (reigned 1661 to 1722). The Beauvais series traditionally included ten scenes of courtly life, such as the 'Return from the Hunt' seen here, where we see the Emperor and his Empress discussing his success beneath a grand double canopy, while the carcasses of his spoils lay strewn by their feet. While the scene depicted is predominantly Chinese, the carpet displayed on the floor is indeed Turkish, being a sumptuous 16th century Ushak carpet from west Anatolia (an earlier example than lot 260 in The Kunstkammer sale from the same collection). For a more in-depth look at the history of this series, see the partner to this lot, the grand 'Audience of the Emperor' from the same series in the evening sale, lot 33.

More from Rothschild Masterpieces: Le Goût Rothschild

View All