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PROBABLEMENT ATELIER LOURDET, CHAILLOT, FRANCE, VERS 1660-1664
细节
EXCEPTIONNEL TAPIS DE LA SAVONNERIE D'ÉPOQUE LOUIS XIII
PROBABLEMENT ATELIER LOURDET, CHAILLOT, FRANCE, VERS 1660-1664
Le fond bleu-nuit, le cartouche central à motif fleuri ceint d'une couronne de feuilles de chênes, flanqué de doubles cornes d'abondance enrubannées, la bordure sur fond ivoire à décor de fleurs entrelacées dans une guirlande feuillagée et enrubannée, entre deux frises d'oves et d'entrelacs, dans un cadre orné de palmettes
586 x 325 cm. (230 ¾ x 128 in.)
PROBABLEMENT ATELIER LOURDET, CHAILLOT, FRANCE, VERS 1660-1664
Le fond bleu-nuit, le cartouche central à motif fleuri ceint d'une couronne de feuilles de chênes, flanqué de doubles cornes d'abondance enrubannées, la bordure sur fond ivoire à décor de fleurs entrelacées dans une guirlande feuillagée et enrubannée, entre deux frises d'oves et d'entrelacs, dans un cadre orné de palmettes
586 x 325 cm. (230 ¾ x 128 in.)
来源
Doña Graziella Patiño de Ortiz Linares (1900-1980) et Son Excellence Don Jorge Ortiz Linares (1894-1965) ;
Puis par descendance.
Puis par descendance.
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AN EXCEPTIONAL LOUIS XIII SAVONNERIE CARPET, PROBABLY LOURDET ATELIER, CHAILLOT, FRANCE, CIRCA 1660-1664
The Savonnerie carpets of Louis XIII embody the union of royal grandeur and artistic mastery. Woven not merely to adorn palaces or presented as ambassadorial gifts, they were a proclamation of the majesty of French taste and craftsmanship. Monumental in size and magnificently preserved, this exquisite carpet is an important, and previously unpublished, addition to the group of known Louis XIII carpets. Once thought to have been in the collection of Jean-André Bloch, the carpet has remained a central focal point of the collection of Doña Graziella Ortiz Linares and her descendants.
While the overall concept of this carpet relates closely to known examples from the group, it displays a number of defining characteristics that set it apart, looking forward to the impressive series of carpets commissioned by Louis XIV for the Palais du Louvre. As such, this carpet is key to understanding the development of Savonnerie designs before 1660, and is as historically significant as it is aesthetically beautiful.
In his classic account of Savonnerie weaving, Pierre Verlet noted that: ‘collectors of today show a particular love of these first products of what was going to become the great Royal Factory’ (P. Verlet, The James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor: the Savonnerie, 1982, p.166).
The Dawn of the Royal Savonnerie Workshop
The Ortiz Savonnerie carpet belongs to an early group of French Savonnerie carpets woven in a specific period that postdates Louis XIII’s death in 1643, until just after the succession of Louis XIV to the throne in 1661. However, they are frequently referred to as Louis XIII carpets to distinguish them from the more opulent and grandiose designs of Charles le Brun, woven by the Savonnerie for Louis XIV’s project for the Galerie d’Apollon and the Grande Galerie at the Palais du Louvre.
The establishment of this manufactory (fig. 1) was part of a broader royal initiative to encourage domestic luxury industries, thereby reducing France’s dependence on imported goods and strengthening its cultural and economic independence. Henri IV (r. 1589-1610) encouraged French carpet production by granting workshop space in the basement of the Louvre, below the Grande Galerie, to Pierre Dupont (c.1577-1640), “tapissier ordinaire en tapis de Turquie et façons de Levant” on January 4, 1608 (see Pierre Verlet, op.cit., p. 28). One of Dupont's apprentices, Simon Lourdet (c.1595-1667), quickly became so proficient in the trade that he ingratiated himself to the Queen, Marie de Medici, who allowed him to install another workshop in the former soap factory, or savonnerie, at Chaillot, hence the name. A partnership agreement between Dupont and Lourdet was signed in 1626, to share the profits and expenses of the two workshops and both produced carpets of very similar design up until 1664. It appears that both factories made similar carpets and, as no records survive from this period, it is very difficult to attribute this carpet specifically to either workshop. It was suggested by Verlet that the larger carpets, such as this, were woven in the Chaillot workshop rather than the Louvre, where larger looms allowed carpets on this scale to be woven.
Cultural Exchange in the Royal Court
While the draughtsman of this carpet is not known, the source of inspiration is quite clear, blending the European taste of exoticism – drawing upon Safavid, Mughal and Ottoman court carpets – with the European taste for flowers, embroidery and still life paintings. The royal inventory, drawn up by Berbier du Metz from 1663, describes numerous carpets of oriental origin, “du Caire, de Perse, et de Turquie”, highlighting their prestige and popularity within the court (J. Guiffrey, Inventaire tapis Louis XIV, I, Paris, 1886, p.172). The Les Tapisseries de I’Histoire du Roi, a series of 16 magnificent tapestries produced in the Royal workshops of the Gobelins in Paris from 1665 to 1681, under the supervision of Charles Le Brun (1619-1690), show a number of Safavid Persian court carpets of palmette design, as well as opulent silk and metal-thread ‘Polonaise’ carpets probably woven in Kashan, illustrating the important cultural exchange that existed between east and west.
Savonnerie carpets from this period share many features, but perhaps foremost the midnight-black, deep indigo or occasional dark brown ground colour that is filled with an abundance of naturalistically woven Spring flowers, creating a millefleurs (thousand flowers) effect. The present carpet displays an intricate and colourful meadow of identifiable flowers including iris, carnations, ranunculi, tulips, daffodils, peonies and narcissi, all of which were considered the most fashionable and exotic at the time. Bunches of grapes hang from each of the cornucopia above and below the central wreath. While the woven depiction of flowers in contemporaneous 17th century Safavid carpets grew increasingly more naturalistic under the reign of Shah Abbas, the observation of flowers in their naturalistic form is noticeably more advanced in French carpets of the same period which owes much to the earlier tradition of 16th century European millefleurs tapestries.
This propensity towards naturalism was also greatly inspired by contemporary French and Flemish still life paintings such as those by Jan Brueghel the Elder. Brueghel (1568–1625), was a pioneer of the floral still life. His highly detailed botanical depictions combine flowers from different seasons, often painted from sketches throughout the year (fig. 2).
Other influential artists included Jacques Linard (1598-1645), Paul Androuet de Cerceau (1623-1710) and Georges Baussonnet (1577-1644). The drawings of Baussonnet feature flowers similar to the specimens in these carpets, several of whose preparatory drawings from around 1610–1620 are preserved in the Reims municipal library. (P. Verlet, op.cit, pp. 163-5, figs. 99, 100 and 101). His name has also been linked to other carpetsfrom this period, such as the one housed in the Louvre (OA 6256), produced by the Chaillot workshop around 1640–1650, as well as another in Waddesdon Manor (illustrated in Cat. Exhib. D. Alcouffe, Un temps d’exubérance, Les arts décoratifs sous Louis XIII et Anne d’ Autriche, p. 181, fig. 1), and a third example that sold at Christie’s in New York on 26 October 2001, lot 48 (fig. 4). Although the repertoire of designs of this relatively young workshop was limited, it suggests that they were immediately popular and found favour with the court.
Another design inspiration for this group were the highly ornate Italian pietra dura table tops produced notably in the Grand Ducal workshops in Florence (fig. 3). Cardinal Jules Mazarin (1602–1661) was one of the earliest and most passionate connoisseurs of pietra dura in France. His avid collecting of Italian hardstone objects sparked a trend that Louis XIV later adopted, leading to the creation of France's own pietra dura workshops in Paris, and an eminent collection of vessels known as the ‘gemmes de la couronne’ from Cardinal Mazarin, many of which remain in the French national collection at the Louvre, (inv. number OA12436).
The European 17th-century fascination with exoticism also likely influenced some of the motifs on this carpet. Amongst the woven flowers is the tulip, whose rare bulbs were imported from the Netherlands at exorbitant prices to meet the demand of France’s "tulip craze" in the early 1600s, when single blooms were worn by noblewomen as dazzling alternatives to jewels. A similar carpet, created by the Chaillot workshop and housed at the Metropolitan Museum in New York (1976.155.111) (fig. 6), showcases similar tulip motifs alongside blue and white porcelain vases, reflecting the period’s fascination with Chinese porcelain, which was imported to Europe by ships of the East India Company. Peonies, symbolising eternity in China, may also have been a source of inspiration.
A few years later, Marco Antonio Giustiniani, who served as Venetian ambassador to the court of France between 1665 and 1668, wrote that ‘we learnt from Persia the art of carpet weaving, but the most beautiful and elegant are made in Paris’ (quoted in Verlet, op.cit. p.166).
Patrons
According to a letter written in 1652 between Catherine of France, known as Madame Royale, and her daughter, the Duchess of Bavaria, a Savonnerie carpet was valued between 2,100 and 2,600 pounds, with the weaving process taking approximately a year, (Archivio di Stato, Lettere Ministri Francia, Turin, 58, file 3). These prestigious carpets were thus considered as extremely luxurious commissions, afforded exclusively to the King, the Queen, Cardinal Mazarin, the Princess of Condé and a select few aristocratic connoisseurs such as the Marquess of Effiat and the Duke of Nemours. According to the inventory of Cardinal Mazarin’s collection from 1653, he owned, ‘a large black-backed Savonnerie carpet (…) featuring a prominent frieze filled with flowers, pots, and baskets of flowers, flanked by two small borders – one adorned with white shells and the other with blue rosettes and green leaves…’ (H. d’ Orléans, Duke of Aumale, Inventory of the furniture owned by Cardinal Mazarin: drawn up in 1653, and published according to the original, preserved in the Condé archives, 1861, p. 170).
The Last of the Millefleurs Masterpieces
Most carpets from this group were small in size and were quite possibly intended as table covers. Examples of ‘table carpets’ include one formerly in the Wrightsman Collection, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (acc.no.1976.155.111) (fig. 6) which displays a central wreath medallion and campane, or tassels, which would act as a fringe hanging down from around the table top in a trompe l’oeil fashion, imitating the embellished needlepoint and tapestry covered furniture of the period. Other examples of this design are at the Musée Nissim de Camondo, (inv. no. 177); the James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor (Verlet, cat. no.1, fig.104); Musée du Louvre (Verlet, fig.106) and an example sold from The Collection of Lewis and Ali Sanders; Christie’s New York, 29 October 2019, lot 1115.
The present carpet is one of a much smaller surviving group of impressive large format carpets intended to be laid upon the floor. Woven a little later, in the 1660s, their designs continue in the fashion of the millefleurs ‘table carpets’ but begin to incorporate bolder Baroque style motifs, such as the flower and fruit-filled cornucopias in the present carpet. Absent on the smaller pieces, the designs of the larger carpets introduce sinuous acanthus leaves that wind through the field like branches, dividing the field of densely-drawn flowers. Furthermore, where a number of the smaller format carpets have noticeably wide main borders, the larger carpets, as seen here, are enclosed by narrower borders edged with guard stripes of simpler moulded architectural design. Comparable examples include a carpet gifted to the Metropolitan Museum in New York (1983.268), by Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wrightsman in 1983, another carpet with the same field pattern, unfortunately cut at each end and joined with later borders, in the J. Paul Getty Museum, (no. 70.DC.63), a third in a New York Private collection (published Verlet op. cit.,1982, p.167, fig.103); a fourth sold Sotheby’s Monaco, 12 February 1979, lot 300; another Sotheby’s New York, 9 December 1972, lot 115; and a sixth sold from the Estate of Mae C. Rovensky, Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 15-19 January 1957, lot 833. One such floor carpet that does not conform completely with the above, was commissioned for a member of the Castellane or the Castille family that recently sold as part of the private collection of Irene Roosevelt Aitken (Christie’s New York, 12 February 2026, lot 241) (fig. 5). That carpet was centred with the cipher of the commissioning family and featured additional armorial motifs within its outer guard stripe.
Evolution of Style: A Precursor to the Louis XIV Grand Commissions
While the Ortiz Savonnerie carpet bears many of the design characteristics of the large scale floor carpets it also displays some unique design characteristics which can be considered as precursors of the schemes developed under the reign of Louis XIV. At the centre of the present carpet is a wreath of oak leaves which distinguishes it from those which display ornate oval moulded frames around the central floral bouquet. The closest comparable is a fragmentary example of a once large carpet now in the Mobilier National, Paris, (acc.no. GMT 2053). To the corners of that carpet are the initials ‘CCM’, likely referring to the Princesse de Condé, Charlotte-Marguerite de Montmorency. It was delivered to her just before her death in 1650. A related fragment from another carpet centred by a similar oak leaf wreath sold more recently from the collection of Jean-Marie Rossi, in Sotheby’s Paris, 10 March 2006, lot 40.
Perhaps the most significant departure in design on the present carpet can be found in the border, which is unique amongst the group. An ascending, spiralling floral garland entwined with a pale blue sateen ribbon twists around a narrow column of interlocking golden floral buds. Of greater note however is the colour of the border. No longer of a dark ground colour, echoing the field, the border is woven with a delicate ombre effect with a graduated transition from pale brown to a soft ivory. This use of shading adds texture and perspective, suggesting that the border is moulded, creating a three dimensional frame enclosing the field. This confident and technical effect can be seen as a signal of what was to come later. The recent exhibition in Paris at the Grand Palais, where 32 of the 93 carpets undertaken by Lourdet for Louis XIV and intended to cover the 450 meter-long Grande Galerie at the Louvre were displayed, was the first time that any of these legendary carpets had been laid next to one another since their manufacture 350 years ago. Their display made it possible to appreciate the technical dexterity of the weavers at the Savonnerie workshop where the trompe l’oeil effects of shading, marbelling and gilding had become, by this stage, a tour de force.
The minor stripes to each side of the main border on the Ortiz carpet are also worthy of comment. They exhibit the guilloché entrelac design more readily associated with the same commission for the Louvre. It represents something of a hybrid between the carpets which were woven for the Galerie d’Apollon and those for the Grande Galerie: it is most similar to the latter, upon which the small circular motifs between the oves are replaced by intertwined blue acanthus leaves. A fragmentary carpet from this commission displaying this border, sold in these Rooms, 14 December 2000, lot 125.
The combination of narrow golden moulded architectural stripes flanked with an outer ivory stripe of anthemion leaves is found on one other known carpet of a much smaller format. Forming part of the collection of the Earl of Rosebery at Dalmeny castle, in Scotland, it displays a midnight-black ground with naturalistic flowers enclosing the traditional cipher of Louis XIV and Marie-Thérèse, represented by the letters, LLMT, beneath a crown (fig. 7). Louis XIV married Marie-Thérèse of Spain on 9 June, 1660. Perhaps this smaller carpet was woven as a pendant to our larger floor carpet although other elements in the field, including the quiver of arrows and flaming torch are more commonly found in the series of carpets woven. It is evident that this particular floral style of carpet remained in favour certainly up to the point when Louis XIV took personal control of the government in 1661 and that this impressive carpet was perhaps one of, if not the last examples to have been woven in this specific style.
Conclusion
In 1663, Jean-Baptiste Colbert reorganised the Savonnerie manufactory, placing it—like the Gobelins—under the artistic direction of Charles Le Brun. Thereafter, the style of the Savonnerie carpets changed significantly. Their designs played a pivotal role in the visual assertion of the public image of Louis XIV, conceived through powerful Baroque compositions of royal imagery on a large scale, positioning the ‘Sun King’ at the centre of the French state and its cultural identity. The Ortiz carpet stands at the dawn of the Louis XIV style and is one of, if not the last large millefleurs carpets to have ever been woven. Appearing at auction for the first time, it remains one of very few surviving examples outside of a key museum or institution.
The Savonnerie carpets of Louis XIII embody the union of royal grandeur and artistic mastery. Woven not merely to adorn palaces or presented as ambassadorial gifts, they were a proclamation of the majesty of French taste and craftsmanship. Monumental in size and magnificently preserved, this exquisite carpet is an important, and previously unpublished, addition to the group of known Louis XIII carpets. Once thought to have been in the collection of Jean-André Bloch, the carpet has remained a central focal point of the collection of Doña Graziella Ortiz Linares and her descendants.
While the overall concept of this carpet relates closely to known examples from the group, it displays a number of defining characteristics that set it apart, looking forward to the impressive series of carpets commissioned by Louis XIV for the Palais du Louvre. As such, this carpet is key to understanding the development of Savonnerie designs before 1660, and is as historically significant as it is aesthetically beautiful.
In his classic account of Savonnerie weaving, Pierre Verlet noted that: ‘collectors of today show a particular love of these first products of what was going to become the great Royal Factory’ (P. Verlet, The James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor: the Savonnerie, 1982, p.166).
The Dawn of the Royal Savonnerie Workshop
The Ortiz Savonnerie carpet belongs to an early group of French Savonnerie carpets woven in a specific period that postdates Louis XIII’s death in 1643, until just after the succession of Louis XIV to the throne in 1661. However, they are frequently referred to as Louis XIII carpets to distinguish them from the more opulent and grandiose designs of Charles le Brun, woven by the Savonnerie for Louis XIV’s project for the Galerie d’Apollon and the Grande Galerie at the Palais du Louvre.
The establishment of this manufactory (fig. 1) was part of a broader royal initiative to encourage domestic luxury industries, thereby reducing France’s dependence on imported goods and strengthening its cultural and economic independence. Henri IV (r. 1589-1610) encouraged French carpet production by granting workshop space in the basement of the Louvre, below the Grande Galerie, to Pierre Dupont (c.1577-1640), “tapissier ordinaire en tapis de Turquie et façons de Levant” on January 4, 1608 (see Pierre Verlet, op.cit., p. 28). One of Dupont's apprentices, Simon Lourdet (c.1595-1667), quickly became so proficient in the trade that he ingratiated himself to the Queen, Marie de Medici, who allowed him to install another workshop in the former soap factory, or savonnerie, at Chaillot, hence the name. A partnership agreement between Dupont and Lourdet was signed in 1626, to share the profits and expenses of the two workshops and both produced carpets of very similar design up until 1664. It appears that both factories made similar carpets and, as no records survive from this period, it is very difficult to attribute this carpet specifically to either workshop. It was suggested by Verlet that the larger carpets, such as this, were woven in the Chaillot workshop rather than the Louvre, where larger looms allowed carpets on this scale to be woven.
Cultural Exchange in the Royal Court
While the draughtsman of this carpet is not known, the source of inspiration is quite clear, blending the European taste of exoticism – drawing upon Safavid, Mughal and Ottoman court carpets – with the European taste for flowers, embroidery and still life paintings. The royal inventory, drawn up by Berbier du Metz from 1663, describes numerous carpets of oriental origin, “du Caire, de Perse, et de Turquie”, highlighting their prestige and popularity within the court (J. Guiffrey, Inventaire tapis Louis XIV, I, Paris, 1886, p.172). The Les Tapisseries de I’Histoire du Roi, a series of 16 magnificent tapestries produced in the Royal workshops of the Gobelins in Paris from 1665 to 1681, under the supervision of Charles Le Brun (1619-1690), show a number of Safavid Persian court carpets of palmette design, as well as opulent silk and metal-thread ‘Polonaise’ carpets probably woven in Kashan, illustrating the important cultural exchange that existed between east and west.
Savonnerie carpets from this period share many features, but perhaps foremost the midnight-black, deep indigo or occasional dark brown ground colour that is filled with an abundance of naturalistically woven Spring flowers, creating a millefleurs (thousand flowers) effect. The present carpet displays an intricate and colourful meadow of identifiable flowers including iris, carnations, ranunculi, tulips, daffodils, peonies and narcissi, all of which were considered the most fashionable and exotic at the time. Bunches of grapes hang from each of the cornucopia above and below the central wreath. While the woven depiction of flowers in contemporaneous 17th century Safavid carpets grew increasingly more naturalistic under the reign of Shah Abbas, the observation of flowers in their naturalistic form is noticeably more advanced in French carpets of the same period which owes much to the earlier tradition of 16th century European millefleurs tapestries.
This propensity towards naturalism was also greatly inspired by contemporary French and Flemish still life paintings such as those by Jan Brueghel the Elder. Brueghel (1568–1625), was a pioneer of the floral still life. His highly detailed botanical depictions combine flowers from different seasons, often painted from sketches throughout the year (fig. 2).
Other influential artists included Jacques Linard (1598-1645), Paul Androuet de Cerceau (1623-1710) and Georges Baussonnet (1577-1644). The drawings of Baussonnet feature flowers similar to the specimens in these carpets, several of whose preparatory drawings from around 1610–1620 are preserved in the Reims municipal library. (P. Verlet, op.cit, pp. 163-5, figs. 99, 100 and 101). His name has also been linked to other carpetsfrom this period, such as the one housed in the Louvre (OA 6256), produced by the Chaillot workshop around 1640–1650, as well as another in Waddesdon Manor (illustrated in Cat. Exhib. D. Alcouffe, Un temps d’exubérance, Les arts décoratifs sous Louis XIII et Anne d’ Autriche, p. 181, fig. 1), and a third example that sold at Christie’s in New York on 26 October 2001, lot 48 (fig. 4). Although the repertoire of designs of this relatively young workshop was limited, it suggests that they were immediately popular and found favour with the court.
Another design inspiration for this group were the highly ornate Italian pietra dura table tops produced notably in the Grand Ducal workshops in Florence (fig. 3). Cardinal Jules Mazarin (1602–1661) was one of the earliest and most passionate connoisseurs of pietra dura in France. His avid collecting of Italian hardstone objects sparked a trend that Louis XIV later adopted, leading to the creation of France's own pietra dura workshops in Paris, and an eminent collection of vessels known as the ‘gemmes de la couronne’ from Cardinal Mazarin, many of which remain in the French national collection at the Louvre, (inv. number OA12436).
The European 17th-century fascination with exoticism also likely influenced some of the motifs on this carpet. Amongst the woven flowers is the tulip, whose rare bulbs were imported from the Netherlands at exorbitant prices to meet the demand of France’s "tulip craze" in the early 1600s, when single blooms were worn by noblewomen as dazzling alternatives to jewels. A similar carpet, created by the Chaillot workshop and housed at the Metropolitan Museum in New York (1976.155.111) (fig. 6), showcases similar tulip motifs alongside blue and white porcelain vases, reflecting the period’s fascination with Chinese porcelain, which was imported to Europe by ships of the East India Company. Peonies, symbolising eternity in China, may also have been a source of inspiration.
A few years later, Marco Antonio Giustiniani, who served as Venetian ambassador to the court of France between 1665 and 1668, wrote that ‘we learnt from Persia the art of carpet weaving, but the most beautiful and elegant are made in Paris’ (quoted in Verlet, op.cit. p.166).
Patrons
According to a letter written in 1652 between Catherine of France, known as Madame Royale, and her daughter, the Duchess of Bavaria, a Savonnerie carpet was valued between 2,100 and 2,600 pounds, with the weaving process taking approximately a year, (Archivio di Stato, Lettere Ministri Francia, Turin, 58, file 3). These prestigious carpets were thus considered as extremely luxurious commissions, afforded exclusively to the King, the Queen, Cardinal Mazarin, the Princess of Condé and a select few aristocratic connoisseurs such as the Marquess of Effiat and the Duke of Nemours. According to the inventory of Cardinal Mazarin’s collection from 1653, he owned, ‘a large black-backed Savonnerie carpet (…) featuring a prominent frieze filled with flowers, pots, and baskets of flowers, flanked by two small borders – one adorned with white shells and the other with blue rosettes and green leaves…’ (H. d’ Orléans, Duke of Aumale, Inventory of the furniture owned by Cardinal Mazarin: drawn up in 1653, and published according to the original, preserved in the Condé archives, 1861, p. 170).
The Last of the Millefleurs Masterpieces
Most carpets from this group were small in size and were quite possibly intended as table covers. Examples of ‘table carpets’ include one formerly in the Wrightsman Collection, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (acc.no.1976.155.111) (fig. 6) which displays a central wreath medallion and campane, or tassels, which would act as a fringe hanging down from around the table top in a trompe l’oeil fashion, imitating the embellished needlepoint and tapestry covered furniture of the period. Other examples of this design are at the Musée Nissim de Camondo, (inv. no. 177); the James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor (Verlet, cat. no.1, fig.104); Musée du Louvre (Verlet, fig.106) and an example sold from The Collection of Lewis and Ali Sanders; Christie’s New York, 29 October 2019, lot 1115.
The present carpet is one of a much smaller surviving group of impressive large format carpets intended to be laid upon the floor. Woven a little later, in the 1660s, their designs continue in the fashion of the millefleurs ‘table carpets’ but begin to incorporate bolder Baroque style motifs, such as the flower and fruit-filled cornucopias in the present carpet. Absent on the smaller pieces, the designs of the larger carpets introduce sinuous acanthus leaves that wind through the field like branches, dividing the field of densely-drawn flowers. Furthermore, where a number of the smaller format carpets have noticeably wide main borders, the larger carpets, as seen here, are enclosed by narrower borders edged with guard stripes of simpler moulded architectural design. Comparable examples include a carpet gifted to the Metropolitan Museum in New York (1983.268), by Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wrightsman in 1983, another carpet with the same field pattern, unfortunately cut at each end and joined with later borders, in the J. Paul Getty Museum, (no. 70.DC.63), a third in a New York Private collection (published Verlet op. cit.,1982, p.167, fig.103); a fourth sold Sotheby’s Monaco, 12 February 1979, lot 300; another Sotheby’s New York, 9 December 1972, lot 115; and a sixth sold from the Estate of Mae C. Rovensky, Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 15-19 January 1957, lot 833. One such floor carpet that does not conform completely with the above, was commissioned for a member of the Castellane or the Castille family that recently sold as part of the private collection of Irene Roosevelt Aitken (Christie’s New York, 12 February 2026, lot 241) (fig. 5). That carpet was centred with the cipher of the commissioning family and featured additional armorial motifs within its outer guard stripe.
Evolution of Style: A Precursor to the Louis XIV Grand Commissions
While the Ortiz Savonnerie carpet bears many of the design characteristics of the large scale floor carpets it also displays some unique design characteristics which can be considered as precursors of the schemes developed under the reign of Louis XIV. At the centre of the present carpet is a wreath of oak leaves which distinguishes it from those which display ornate oval moulded frames around the central floral bouquet. The closest comparable is a fragmentary example of a once large carpet now in the Mobilier National, Paris, (acc.no. GMT 2053). To the corners of that carpet are the initials ‘CCM’, likely referring to the Princesse de Condé, Charlotte-Marguerite de Montmorency. It was delivered to her just before her death in 1650. A related fragment from another carpet centred by a similar oak leaf wreath sold more recently from the collection of Jean-Marie Rossi, in Sotheby’s Paris, 10 March 2006, lot 40.
Perhaps the most significant departure in design on the present carpet can be found in the border, which is unique amongst the group. An ascending, spiralling floral garland entwined with a pale blue sateen ribbon twists around a narrow column of interlocking golden floral buds. Of greater note however is the colour of the border. No longer of a dark ground colour, echoing the field, the border is woven with a delicate ombre effect with a graduated transition from pale brown to a soft ivory. This use of shading adds texture and perspective, suggesting that the border is moulded, creating a three dimensional frame enclosing the field. This confident and technical effect can be seen as a signal of what was to come later. The recent exhibition in Paris at the Grand Palais, where 32 of the 93 carpets undertaken by Lourdet for Louis XIV and intended to cover the 450 meter-long Grande Galerie at the Louvre were displayed, was the first time that any of these legendary carpets had been laid next to one another since their manufacture 350 years ago. Their display made it possible to appreciate the technical dexterity of the weavers at the Savonnerie workshop where the trompe l’oeil effects of shading, marbelling and gilding had become, by this stage, a tour de force.
The minor stripes to each side of the main border on the Ortiz carpet are also worthy of comment. They exhibit the guilloché entrelac design more readily associated with the same commission for the Louvre. It represents something of a hybrid between the carpets which were woven for the Galerie d’Apollon and those for the Grande Galerie: it is most similar to the latter, upon which the small circular motifs between the oves are replaced by intertwined blue acanthus leaves. A fragmentary carpet from this commission displaying this border, sold in these Rooms, 14 December 2000, lot 125.
The combination of narrow golden moulded architectural stripes flanked with an outer ivory stripe of anthemion leaves is found on one other known carpet of a much smaller format. Forming part of the collection of the Earl of Rosebery at Dalmeny castle, in Scotland, it displays a midnight-black ground with naturalistic flowers enclosing the traditional cipher of Louis XIV and Marie-Thérèse, represented by the letters, LLMT, beneath a crown (fig. 7). Louis XIV married Marie-Thérèse of Spain on 9 June, 1660. Perhaps this smaller carpet was woven as a pendant to our larger floor carpet although other elements in the field, including the quiver of arrows and flaming torch are more commonly found in the series of carpets woven. It is evident that this particular floral style of carpet remained in favour certainly up to the point when Louis XIV took personal control of the government in 1661 and that this impressive carpet was perhaps one of, if not the last examples to have been woven in this specific style.
Conclusion
In 1663, Jean-Baptiste Colbert reorganised the Savonnerie manufactory, placing it—like the Gobelins—under the artistic direction of Charles Le Brun. Thereafter, the style of the Savonnerie carpets changed significantly. Their designs played a pivotal role in the visual assertion of the public image of Louis XIV, conceived through powerful Baroque compositions of royal imagery on a large scale, positioning the ‘Sun King’ at the centre of the French state and its cultural identity. The Ortiz carpet stands at the dawn of the Louis XIV style and is one of, if not the last large millefleurs carpets to have ever been woven. Appearing at auction for the first time, it remains one of very few surviving examples outside of a key museum or institution.
荣誉呈献
Paul Gallois
Head of European Furniture, EMEA