Lot Essay
This carpet is part of one of the ninety-three carpets commissioned by Louis XIV for the Grande Galerie du Palais du Louvre as part of a grand renovation of the Louvre masterminded by Louis XIV's chief minister, Jean-Baptiste Colbert. In both execution and design, this series of Grande Galerie carpets should be seen as one of the most ambitious and important projects of Louis XIV's patronage of the decorative arts. The commission to weave the Grande Galerie carpets was shared by the DuPont family and the Lourdet family who were by this time working in a competitive collaboration at the Savonnerie workshops in Chaillot. It took approximately twenty years to complete the commission with carpets being delivered between 1668 and 1689. Pierre Verlet (op. cit.) has written an exhaustive study of the Grande Galerie carpets which includes a listing, brief description and layout plan for each known carpet, as well as the known history of ownership for each piece.
The carpet offered here originally formed the two end sections for the 50th carpet in the series and was delivered by DuPont to the Louvre on 10 June 1677. From production and delivery records kept by DuPont, we know today that he was responsible for thirty-two of the carpets and that the current example is the twelfth carpet he wove for the Grande Galerie commission. DuPont's production and delivery notes also make particular mention of the four Peacocks seen in the corners of this
piece (Ibid, p. 179, notes 25-41 and p. 486). The original center section of this carpet is in the Musée Nissim de Camondo, Paris (see M. L. Jarry, The Carpets of the Manufacture de la Savonnerie, 1966, fig. 17).
The carpet was described on its arrival in the Grand-Meuble as:
Le cinquantiesme: un tapis fonds brun, représentant l'air, sur lequel il y a un grand compartiment fonds blanc remply des armes de France dans quatre cartouches couronnez et soutenues des aisles de la Renommée, et accompagnées de festons de fleurs et dans le milieu d'un rond fonds bleu entouré de papillons dans lequel sont représentez les Quatre Vents, aux deux bouts deux bas-reliefs bleus représentant Eole et Junon, long de 7 aunes 1/2 sur 3 aunes 3/4 de large.
Surprisingly, the carpets were also appreciated during the Revolution and the Directoire as many of the pieces were dispersed to governments officials or used to pay governmental debts. Unfortunately, it was during the revolution and the Directoire that many of the Grande Galerie carpets were cut down in size for less palatial rooms or fell into general disrepair through neglect. The current piece was acquired from the Directoire by Raymond Bourdillon on 26 July 1797. Bourdillon received forty-four Savonnerie carpets, including twenty-seven others from the Grande Galerie series, as payment for horse fodder he supplied the revolutionary army (Ibid, p. 205 and pp. 431, note 35). When Bourdillon received the carpets, the condition of this one was described:
tapis frais comme neuf, avec médaillon en bas-relief aux deux bouts et un grand milieu, fond blanc et bleu, orné de trophées de musique et de 4 grands écussons couronnés, 1600F, (AN 02/464)
The carpet offered here originally formed the two end sections for the 50th carpet in the series and was delivered by DuPont to the Louvre on 10 June 1677. From production and delivery records kept by DuPont, we know today that he was responsible for thirty-two of the carpets and that the current example is the twelfth carpet he wove for the Grande Galerie commission. DuPont's production and delivery notes also make particular mention of the four Peacocks seen in the corners of this
piece (Ibid, p. 179, notes 25-41 and p. 486). The original center section of this carpet is in the Musée Nissim de Camondo, Paris (see M. L. Jarry, The Carpets of the Manufacture de la Savonnerie, 1966, fig. 17).
The carpet was described on its arrival in the Grand-Meuble as:
Le cinquantiesme: un tapis fonds brun, représentant l'air, sur lequel il y a un grand compartiment fonds blanc remply des armes de France dans quatre cartouches couronnez et soutenues des aisles de la Renommée, et accompagnées de festons de fleurs et dans le milieu d'un rond fonds bleu entouré de papillons dans lequel sont représentez les Quatre Vents, aux deux bouts deux bas-reliefs bleus représentant Eole et Junon, long de 7 aunes 1/2 sur 3 aunes 3/4 de large.
Surprisingly, the carpets were also appreciated during the Revolution and the Directoire as many of the pieces were dispersed to governments officials or used to pay governmental debts. Unfortunately, it was during the revolution and the Directoire that many of the Grande Galerie carpets were cut down in size for less palatial rooms or fell into general disrepair through neglect. The current piece was acquired from the Directoire by Raymond Bourdillon on 26 July 1797. Bourdillon received forty-four Savonnerie carpets, including twenty-seven others from the Grande Galerie series, as payment for horse fodder he supplied the revolutionary army (Ibid, p. 205 and pp. 431, note 35). When Bourdillon received the carpets, the condition of this one was described:
tapis frais comme neuf, avec médaillon en bas-relief aux deux bouts et un grand milieu, fond blanc et bleu, orné de trophées de musique et de 4 grands écussons couronnés, 1600F, (AN 02/464)