PROBABLY IMPERIAL TAPESTRY FACTORY, SAINT PETERSBURG, EARLY 19TH CENTURY

The Imperial Tapestry Factory was established in 1716 near Saint Petersburg by Peter I, the Great (reigned 1682-1725) but floor carpets, both tapestry-woven and knotted-pile, were probably not produced before the early 19th century. Carpets and tapestries woven in this workshop are distinguished by a very high quality and reflect a French style preferred by Peter the Great and his successors during the 18th and early 19th centuries. In fact, when the Imperial Tapestry Factory was established, weavers from the Gobelins manufactory in Paris were brought to Russia to train local weavers (see S. Sherrill, Carpets and Rugs of Europe and America, New York, 1996, pp. 281-282). The sophisticated drawing of the pictorial roundels, naturalistic depictions of flowers and the use of white cotton demonstrate the influence of the French neoclassical style later favored by Catherine the Great and her court.