Lot Essay
The design for Les Portières des Dieux, first known as Nouvelles portières des Rabesques des Dieux and comprising four panels of the Seasons and four panels of the Gods, were ordered by Mansart from Claude Audran Le Jeune in 1699 (M. Fenaille, La Manufacture des Gobelins, 1699-1736, Paris, 1904, pp. 1-59). The figures of the various goddesses, gods and children were designed by Louis de Boulogne and Corneille, while the animals are probably after François Desportes. The first tapestries of this series were finished in January 1701 in the atelier of Dominique De La Croix and the series proved to be one of the most enduring of all the Gobelins designs and was woven throughout the 18th Century with a variety of borders and in a number of colours. It is interesting to note that the tapestries of Saturn which were woven in the low loom ateliers show the whole child below the clouds, while the high loom ateliers depict it half in the clouds. This border was introduced in 1740, probably designed by Pierre-Josse Perrot, and Fenaille records three panels of Saturn in the inventories of Gobelins between 1775 and 1788.
Jacques Neilson was head of the low warp workshops from 1751 until 1788.
A set of three panels, including Saturn, but with an associated scrolling foliate border, was sold from the property of Thomas Sherwin Pearson-Gregory, in these Rooms, 26/27 May 1937, lot 245. A further panel of Saturn, without borders, from the collection of The Earl of Iveagh, Elveden Hall, Thetford, Norfolk, was sold Christie's house sale, 22 May 1984, lot 1771.
Jacques Neilson was head of the low warp workshops from 1751 until 1788.
A set of three panels, including Saturn, but with an associated scrolling foliate border, was sold from the property of Thomas Sherwin Pearson-Gregory, in these Rooms, 26/27 May 1937, lot 245. A further panel of Saturn, without borders, from the collection of The Earl of Iveagh, Elveden Hall, Thetford, Norfolk, was sold Christie's house sale, 22 May 1984, lot 1771.