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Lot Essay
The workshop at Aubusson wove its first pile carpet in 1743 and quickly established itself as an alternative to the Savonnerie and enjoyed royal patronage. As early as 1748, Louis XV and his mistress Madame de Pompadour ordered Aubusson carpets but his successors Louis XVI and Napoleon I were even more active patrons. A 1786 inventory of the royal apartments of Versailles lists more than a hundred Aubusson carpets (see S. Sherrill, Sarah B., Carpets and Rugs of Europe and America, New York, 1996, p. 103). By 1756, the Aubusson workshops were selling to a number of countries including Spain, the Netherlands and America, while their French clients included various members of the court.
At first, the designs of Aubusson pile carpets imitated Persian and Turkish carpets, but by the late 1740s and early 1750s, they began weaving carpets in the rococo style that dominated all of the French arts. This particular carpet exemplifies a transitional period from the early Middle Eastern-inspired carpets with its diamond trellis field to a period that is more decidedly robust in nature typified by the center rosette medallion. A strikingly similar transitional Aubusson pile carpet with a nearly identical field pattern was with Beauvais Carpets, New York and privately published (Beauvais Carpets Catalogue I, fig. 1, p. 3).
An Aubusson pile carpet in the James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire (see P. Verlet, The James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor, The Savonnerie, London, 1982, p. 362, fig. 223, Cat. No. 19) has a similar diamond trellis ground and displays comparable refined treatment of the rinceaux, features that are associated with the earliest Middle Eastern-inspired Aubusson pile carpets.
The rococo motifs are similar to those of the well-known Savonnerie designer and Louis XV favorite, Pierre-Josse Perrot (1700-1750), particularly the realistic mixed flowers in the garlands. A Louis XV Aubusson Pile Carpet in the collection of Musée Nissim de Camondo in Paris (see S. Sherrill, p. 102, pl. 110) resembles this carpet and shares a similar laurel leaf garland motif.
At first, the designs of Aubusson pile carpets imitated Persian and Turkish carpets, but by the late 1740s and early 1750s, they began weaving carpets in the rococo style that dominated all of the French arts. This particular carpet exemplifies a transitional period from the early Middle Eastern-inspired carpets with its diamond trellis field to a period that is more decidedly robust in nature typified by the center rosette medallion. A strikingly similar transitional Aubusson pile carpet with a nearly identical field pattern was with Beauvais Carpets, New York and privately published (Beauvais Carpets Catalogue I, fig. 1, p. 3).
An Aubusson pile carpet in the James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire (see P. Verlet, The James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor, The Savonnerie, London, 1982, p. 362, fig. 223, Cat. No. 19) has a similar diamond trellis ground and displays comparable refined treatment of the rinceaux, features that are associated with the earliest Middle Eastern-inspired Aubusson pile carpets.
The rococo motifs are similar to those of the well-known Savonnerie designer and Louis XV favorite, Pierre-Josse Perrot (1700-1750), particularly the realistic mixed flowers in the garlands. A Louis XV Aubusson Pile Carpet in the collection of Musée Nissim de Camondo in Paris (see S. Sherrill, p. 102, pl. 110) resembles this carpet and shares a similar laurel leaf garland motif.