CIRCA 1755-1770, AFTER DESIGNS BY FRANÇOIS BOUCHER AND JEAN-JOSEPH DUMONS, PROBABLY FROM THE WORKSHOPS OF FRANÇOIS PICON, REDUCED IN SIZE

The present lot is one from a series of nine Aubusson tapestries inspired by the Tenture Chinoise compositions painted by François Boucher (1703-1770) for the Royal Beauvais tapestry manufactory and woven between 1743 and 1775. The original Beauvais designs were subsequently adapted by Jean-Joseph Dumons de Tulle (1687-1779) and extended with three additional subjects including the present composition. In 1731, Louis XV appointed Dumons draftsman of the Royal Aubusson tapestry manufactory, where he worked under François Picon until he left the atelier for Beauvais in 1755 to collaborate with Boucher. A version of the present lot is in the collection of the Musée du Louvre, Paris and is illustrated D. and P. Chevalier and P. Bertrand, Les Tapisseries d'Aubusson et de Felletin, Lausanne, 1988, pp. 114-5. Tapestries of different sizes and completeness including the scene depicted in this lot include one sold from the Collection of the Vicomte de Curel, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 3 May 1918, lot 63, one sold Sotheby's, New York, 1 June 1978, lot 412, and one sold Christie's, New York, 23 October 1998, lot 100. Most recently, a tapestry of this design sold Sotheby’s, London, 29 April 2014, lot 339 (£30,000), while another from the Bernheimer Collection sold Sotheby’s, London, 24 November 2015, lot 21 (£27,500).