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Lot Essay
Louis XIV started the tradition of presenting the powerful chancellor, or his keeper of seals (garde des seaux), with a set of Gobelins tapestries in 1679. The chancellor sat to the left of the King during ceremonies and was a minister to the King who was on almost all of the Royal councils.
The first chancellor to receive these tapestries as a gift from the King was Michel Le Tellier. Although two examples of this first set of ten tapestries survive, the designer remains unknown. The second set of chancellerie tapestries given to Louis Boucherat (d. 1699) in 1686 was exceptionally executed in the Royal Beauvais Workshops under Philip Béhagle (d. 1705) and was designed by François Bonnemer (d. 1689) while the borders were executed by Jean Le Moyne (d. 1713) (F. Joubert, A. Leébure and P.F. Bertrand, Histoire de la Tapisserie, Paris, 1995, p. 169).
The general design of the subsequent weavings remained similar but a revised design was created by Guy-Louis Vernansal (d. 1729), who drew the figures, Pavillon (active until 1712), who drew the coats-of-arms, and Claude III Audran (d. 1734), who appears to have created the rest, in 1700 and 1701. The first weaving to these designs was executed for Louis Phélypeaux (d.1727) who was chancellor between 1699 and 1714. Subsequent weavings were executed for Chandellor d'Aguesseau, the Marquis d'Argeson, Fleuriau d'Armenonville, Chancellor de Lamoignon, Feudeau de Brou and Chancellor de Maupeau in 1773. The lack of borders makes a certain attribution impossible.
(E. Standen, European post-Medieval Tapestries and Related Hangings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, vol. I, pp. 361-364)
The first chancellor to receive these tapestries as a gift from the King was Michel Le Tellier. Although two examples of this first set of ten tapestries survive, the designer remains unknown. The second set of chancellerie tapestries given to Louis Boucherat (d. 1699) in 1686 was exceptionally executed in the Royal Beauvais Workshops under Philip Béhagle (d. 1705) and was designed by François Bonnemer (d. 1689) while the borders were executed by Jean Le Moyne (d. 1713) (F. Joubert, A. Leébure and P.F. Bertrand, Histoire de la Tapisserie, Paris, 1995, p. 169).
The general design of the subsequent weavings remained similar but a revised design was created by Guy-Louis Vernansal (d. 1729), who drew the figures, Pavillon (active until 1712), who drew the coats-of-arms, and Claude III Audran (d. 1734), who appears to have created the rest, in 1700 and 1701. The first weaving to these designs was executed for Louis Phélypeaux (d.1727) who was chancellor between 1699 and 1714. Subsequent weavings were executed for Chandellor d'Aguesseau, the Marquis d'Argeson, Fleuriau d'Armenonville, Chancellor de Lamoignon, Feudeau de Brou and Chancellor de Maupeau in 1773. The lack of borders makes a certain attribution impossible.
(E. Standen, European post-Medieval Tapestries and Related Hangings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, vol. I, pp. 361-364)