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Lot Essay
This tapestry is from the eleventh weaving of the Mois de Lucas, as recorded by Maurice Fenaille at the end of the 19th century. The series was woven in the second high warp Loom workshop by Pierre-François Cozette from 1749 to the year IV (1796). This was a part of the last official weaving of four pieces carried out between 1767 and 1772. Two other versions of November, each close to one another, were woven in the same workshop and given to the grand aumôniers of the King of Sardinia. The border decoration is a variant of that created by Belin de Fontenay and Perrot in 1730 and was used in 1737 for a series woven for Count Brühl.
NOVEMBER FROM THE SET MADE BY MONMERQUÉ AND COZETTE BETWEEN 1747-1750
A new set of tapestries from the Mois de Lucas series was ordered in 1747 from the haute lisse workshop run by Mathieu Monmerqué. This workshop wove only 7 pieces because the cartoons were in such a poor state of repair, and this included May which was considered repairable. Although the order was given to Monmerqué, he shared it with his successor Cozette.
Monmerqué wove January, February, March and June, and Cozette May, November and December. The set was completed in 1751, but stayed in storage at the Gobelins until 1761. November was started in 1748 and completed on 30 May 1750; it measured 3 aunes 10 high and 3 aunes 4 wide (431cm. x 386cm.).
On 28 June 1761 by order of the King, the series was sent to the duc de Praslin, then comte de Choiseul and ministre plénipotentiaire du Roi for the use of the Foreign Ministry at the Augsburg congress. November was included in this group of five tapestries and was remeasured in the Foreign office warehouse. The width was given as 3 aunes 2½ (376cm.), 10cm. less than previously; the height was the same, 3 aunes 10.
In 1763, the comte de Choiseul requested an exchange with a set of Don Quixote tapestries, and the Augsburg set was then sent to La Haye, to the Embassy which belonged to the foreign Ministry. Adapted to fit the dimensions of the rooms, both March and November were cut down considerably. Returned to France in 1771 to be given as a present from the King to the cardinal des Lances, grand aumônier to the King of Sardinia on the occassion of the marriage of the comte de Provence to Princess Joséphine de Savoie, the set was listed in the Livres des Présents du Roi, as no. 2098:
Le 22 mars année 1771
Etats des présens distribueées au nom du roy à Turin pour le compte des Affaires Etrangères, à l'occasion de la demande solennelle de Madame la Comtesse de Provence par M le Baron de Choiseul, ambassadeur de sa Majesté auprés du roy de Sardaigne.
- Au cardinal des Lances
une tenture de tapisserie en haute lisse en 4 pièces faite à la manufacture pour le compte des Affaires Etrangères en 1768 représentant les 4 mois de l'année, d'après Paul Lucas.
Dont le mai, juin et décembre:
Le mois de Novembre a été fait sur la largeur de 2 aunes 4/16 et en pieds, cette pièce a actuellement de large, compris les tissus et la rentrée 10 pieds et 2 pouces:
cette pièce représentant une campagne ornée de fermes et de maisons dont les habitants s'occupent à labourer avec des charrues, et d'autres ensemencer la terre avec le grain qu'on leur distribue.
THE SERIES WOVEN BY COZETTE BETWEEN 1769 AND 1772
Four new pieces were ordered from Cozette to replace the tapestries from the Foreign Ministry set. They do not appear in the Gobelins accounts but are listed in the 1773 inventory of the Foreign Ministry warehouse:
Art. 7 no. 5 - Tapisserie des Gobelins, Six mois de l'année, savoir:
Janvier [ ]
Février [ ]
Mai [ ]
Juin [ ]
Novembre 3 aunes 10 de hauteur sur 2 aunes 10 cours
3 452 livres 12 sols 6 deniers
(431 cm. high; 312 cm. wide)
Décembre [ ]
Total: 25 936 livres 17 sols 6 deniers
Avec une petite parties de la pièce de Mars découpée
November appears in the Livres des Présents du Roi because it was given, alongside June, by Louis XV to the Archbishop of Turin who had succeeded Cardinal de Lances as grand aumônier to the King of Sardinia on the occasion of the marriage of the Comte d'Artois, his third grandson, to Marie-Thérèse de Savoie in October 1773.
-une croix pastorale..............6 625 livres 10 sols
-deux pièces de tapisserie des Gobelins..............
7 667 livres 17 sols 6 deniers
soit total 14 293 livres 7 sols 6 denier
Du 12 octobre 1773:
Délivré par ordre de Mgr le duc d'Aiguillon : Deux pièces de tapisseries des six ci-contre : le Mois de Juin de 3 a1/16 et le Mois de Novembre de 2 a 10/16 pour être envoiées au Pont de Beauvoisin et remises en présent au nom du Roi au Grand Aumônier du roi de Sardaigne à l'occasion du mariage de Mgr le comte d'Artois, lesd. deux pièces revenant à la somme de
7 667 livres 17 sols 6 deniers.
The two tapestries depicting November are almost indistinguishable from one another, and only the inscription on the latter series (COZETTE 1770) allows one to assert with certainty that it came from the last order placed in 1769. The two other tapestries from the same set, May and December, which are now in the Foreign Ministry and are illustrated in Standen, op. cit., p.333, also bear the name of the workshop COZETTE and the date 1770.
The height of the set as measured by the Gobelins workshop (431cm.) was higher than that given in 1900. The difference in height between the latter and the tapestry in this lot is about 2 cm. The Gobelins measurements were probably more approximate and it was certainly in their interest to err on the optimistic side in terms of scale, as they charged in direct relations to the size of the weaving.
The width of November at 3 aunes 10/16 (312cm.) similarly contrasts with the 287 cm. width of the tapestry offered here, but again may be the result of a tendency to round up measurements in the Cozette workshop.
THE MOIS DE LUCAS SERIES
The designs for this series derive from the twelve Brussels tapestries owned by Louis XIV and woven circa 1535, which were destroyed during the Revolution in 1797. Mistakenly thought to have been executed by Lucas van Leyden, their design is now given to the 'Master of the Months of Lucas'.
Related tapestries from this series are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, in the Hermitage Museum, Russia (illustrated in N. Birioukova, Les Tapisseries Françaises de la Fin du XVe au XXe Siècle dans les Collections de l'Ermitage, Leningrad, 1974, Leningrad, cat.27) and were sold by the 6th Earl of Rosebery from Mentmore Towers, Buckinghamdshire, Sotheby's House sale, 18-20 May 1977, lot 802-813.
NOVEMBER FROM THE SET MADE BY MONMERQUÉ AND COZETTE BETWEEN 1747-1750
A new set of tapestries from the Mois de Lucas series was ordered in 1747 from the haute lisse workshop run by Mathieu Monmerqué. This workshop wove only 7 pieces because the cartoons were in such a poor state of repair, and this included May which was considered repairable. Although the order was given to Monmerqué, he shared it with his successor Cozette.
Monmerqué wove January, February, March and June, and Cozette May, November and December. The set was completed in 1751, but stayed in storage at the Gobelins until 1761. November was started in 1748 and completed on 30 May 1750; it measured 3 aunes 10 high and 3 aunes 4 wide (431cm. x 386cm.).
On 28 June 1761 by order of the King, the series was sent to the duc de Praslin, then comte de Choiseul and ministre plénipotentiaire du Roi for the use of the Foreign Ministry at the Augsburg congress. November was included in this group of five tapestries and was remeasured in the Foreign office warehouse. The width was given as 3 aunes 2½ (376cm.), 10cm. less than previously; the height was the same, 3 aunes 10.
In 1763, the comte de Choiseul requested an exchange with a set of Don Quixote tapestries, and the Augsburg set was then sent to La Haye, to the Embassy which belonged to the foreign Ministry. Adapted to fit the dimensions of the rooms, both March and November were cut down considerably. Returned to France in 1771 to be given as a present from the King to the cardinal des Lances, grand aumônier to the King of Sardinia on the occassion of the marriage of the comte de Provence to Princess Joséphine de Savoie, the set was listed in the Livres des Présents du Roi, as no. 2098:
Le 22 mars année 1771
Etats des présens distribueées au nom du roy à Turin pour le compte des Affaires Etrangères, à l'occasion de la demande solennelle de Madame la Comtesse de Provence par M le Baron de Choiseul, ambassadeur de sa Majesté auprés du roy de Sardaigne.
- Au cardinal des Lances
une tenture de tapisserie en haute lisse en 4 pièces faite à la manufacture pour le compte des Affaires Etrangères en 1768 représentant les 4 mois de l'année, d'après Paul Lucas.
Dont le mai, juin et décembre:
Le mois de Novembre a été fait sur la largeur de 2 aunes 4/16 et en pieds, cette pièce a actuellement de large, compris les tissus et la rentrée 10 pieds et 2 pouces:
cette pièce représentant une campagne ornée de fermes et de maisons dont les habitants s'occupent à labourer avec des charrues, et d'autres ensemencer la terre avec le grain qu'on leur distribue.
THE SERIES WOVEN BY COZETTE BETWEEN 1769 AND 1772
Four new pieces were ordered from Cozette to replace the tapestries from the Foreign Ministry set. They do not appear in the Gobelins accounts but are listed in the 1773 inventory of the Foreign Ministry warehouse:
Art. 7 no. 5 - Tapisserie des Gobelins, Six mois de l'année, savoir:
Janvier [ ]
Février [ ]
Mai [ ]
Juin [ ]
Novembre 3 aunes 10 de hauteur sur 2 aunes 10 cours
3 452 livres 12 sols 6 deniers
(431 cm. high; 312 cm. wide)
Décembre [ ]
Total: 25 936 livres 17 sols 6 deniers
Avec une petite parties de la pièce de Mars découpée
November appears in the Livres des Présents du Roi because it was given, alongside June, by Louis XV to the Archbishop of Turin who had succeeded Cardinal de Lances as grand aumônier to the King of Sardinia on the occasion of the marriage of the Comte d'Artois, his third grandson, to Marie-Thérèse de Savoie in October 1773.
-une croix pastorale..............6 625 livres 10 sols
-deux pièces de tapisserie des Gobelins..............
7 667 livres 17 sols 6 deniers
soit total 14 293 livres 7 sols 6 denier
Du 12 octobre 1773:
Délivré par ordre de Mgr le duc d'Aiguillon : Deux pièces de tapisseries des six ci-contre : le Mois de Juin de 3 a1/16 et le Mois de Novembre de 2 a 10/16 pour être envoiées au Pont de Beauvoisin et remises en présent au nom du Roi au Grand Aumônier du roi de Sardaigne à l'occasion du mariage de Mgr le comte d'Artois, lesd. deux pièces revenant à la somme de
7 667 livres 17 sols 6 deniers.
The two tapestries depicting November are almost indistinguishable from one another, and only the inscription on the latter series (COZETTE 1770) allows one to assert with certainty that it came from the last order placed in 1769. The two other tapestries from the same set, May and December, which are now in the Foreign Ministry and are illustrated in Standen, op. cit., p.333, also bear the name of the workshop COZETTE and the date 1770.
The height of the set as measured by the Gobelins workshop (431cm.) was higher than that given in 1900. The difference in height between the latter and the tapestry in this lot is about 2 cm. The Gobelins measurements were probably more approximate and it was certainly in their interest to err on the optimistic side in terms of scale, as they charged in direct relations to the size of the weaving.
The width of November at 3 aunes 10/16 (312cm.) similarly contrasts with the 287 cm. width of the tapestry offered here, but again may be the result of a tendency to round up measurements in the Cozette workshop.
THE MOIS DE LUCAS SERIES
The designs for this series derive from the twelve Brussels tapestries owned by Louis XIV and woven circa 1535, which were destroyed during the Revolution in 1797. Mistakenly thought to have been executed by Lucas van Leyden, their design is now given to the 'Master of the Months of Lucas'.
Related tapestries from this series are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, in the Hermitage Museum, Russia (illustrated in N. Birioukova, Les Tapisseries Françaises de la Fin du XVe au XXe Siècle dans les Collections de l'Ermitage, Leningrad, 1974, Leningrad, cat.27) and were sold by the 6th Earl of Rosebery from Mentmore Towers, Buckinghamdshire, Sotheby's House sale, 18-20 May 1977, lot 802-813.