FRANCE, CIRCA 1670-1685

This carpet is part of one of the ninety-three commissioned by Louis XIV for the Grande Galerie of the Louvre. These late seventeenth century carpets are among the greatest achievements in the French decorative arts during his reign. Remarkable for their quality of weave and detail of pictorial representation, the carpets are even more extraordinary in that they were produced at a time when the technique of pile-carpet weaving was relatively new to France. With their elegantly swirling acanthus leaves, deep black background and egg-and-dart borders surrounding landscapes and allegorical figures, each carpet is a celebration of the reign of Louis XIV, extolling such virtues as peace and abundance, victory and strength. It seems that the carpets were never laid out at the Louvre but were occasionally used at Versailles for official ceremonies and court functions. Surprisingly, the carpets were also appreciated during the Revolution and the Directoire. At this time many of the Grande Galerie carpets were dispersed to government officials, used to pay governmental debts and cut down in size for less palatial spaces. Most of the extant Grande Galerie carpets known today are preserved in museums, with more than fifty examples in the national collections of France, three in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, three in the Huntington Art Gallery, San Marino, CA and four at Waddesdon Manor as well as in numerous other museums and private collections.