SECOND HALF OF THE 18TH CENTURY

At the court of Louis XV, the popularity of carpets was such that it became one of the main factors that led to the development of new weaving workshops, thus meeting a growing demand from the court and the nobility (Sarah B. Sherrill, Carpets and Rugs of Europe and America, New York, 1996, p.98.). In central France, the town of Aubusson had for centuries produced high quality tapestries, but the weaving of carpets at the point called "de Savonnerie" was not introduced there until 1743. The workshop quickly found a market for carpets woven in patterns similar to those of the Royal Savonnerie, which were however less fine, or at least with a smaller variety of colours, but which also had the advantage of being significantly cheaper. By 1756 the Aubusson workshop was receiving commissions from Spain, the Netherlands and America, while their French clients included various members of the Royal court. Indeed, Louis XV and his mistress Madame de Pompadour received two carpets in 1748 and another larger carpet in 1766. In 1786, a court inventory lists twenty-one Aubusson carpets at Versailles, (Madeleine Jarry, The Carpets of Aubusson, Leigh-on-Sea, 1969, pp.13-25).

An Aubusson carpet located in the Musée Nissim de Camondo in Paris, features a similar pattern. The interwoven trellis contains a sheaf that encloses a floral roundel in a central medallion, but there is also a scrolling acanthus border (S. Sherrill, Carpets and Rugs of Europe and America, New York, 1996, p.102, pl.110).

A closely related example, previously in the Guy de Rothschild collection, sold at Sotheby's Monaco, 26 May 1975, lot 201, and an even later example, previously in the Doris Duke collection, sold at Christie's New York, October 14, 2020, lot 2.