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Lot Essay
Wonderfully preserved in both coloring and pile, this carpet is an outstanding example of the weaving executed at the Savonnerie workshop during the reign of Louis XV. The Savonnerie carpet manufactory was a Rroyal undertaking and established an unrivaled reputation, akin to its sister factory, the Gobelins tapestry workshops. The enterprise was born under the impetus and protection of Henri IV and his leading advisor Maximilien de Béthune, duc de Sully, to curb the drain on the Royal purse caused by importing carpets, aiming to establish a domestic luxury weaving industry that could produce French carpets equal to or surpassing the quality of the desirable but costly Eastern pile carpets. The factory appears to have been started in 1604, when Henri IV granted Pierre Dupont space for a workshop in the Royal palace of the Louvre, in the area below the Grande Galerie. The factory became known as the Savonnerie due to its adoption of the abandoned soap factory at Quai de Chaillot by 1627, then outside the Paris city walls, but now on the site of the palais de Chaillot in the 16th arrondissement. Under the patronage and protection of the Bourbon monarchs and therefore exempt from the usual guild regulations, the factory flourished, manufacturing carpets to cover floors and furniture almost exclusively for the Court, the Royal palaces and for state use as diplomatic gifts. The importance of the quality and inventiveness of the designs produced at the Savonnerie cannot be overemphasized, as the originality of its carpets, some designed by the greatest decorative painters of the age, and others by figures such as Charles Le Brun and Robert de Cotte, enabled the factory was able to overcome its competitors. The initiative for the creation of new designs rested with the King and his advisors. It is interesting to note the active role that both Louis XIV and Louis XV played in the commissioning and development of new designs; they acted as taste-makers determining the themes and style of new commissions. Louis XV's direct intervention can be seen in the notes that adorn some of the surviving carpet sketches from his reign, where the words Bon or A exécuter appear in the margins, suggesting that designs were submitted directly to the King for approval.
The most well-known designer at the Savonnerie of the eighteenth century was without doubt Pierre-Josse Perrot (1700-1750), whose carpets defined the decorative style of Savonnerie during Louis XV's reign and often achieve the highest prices at auction. Notable examples include a carpet sold Christie’s, London 10 July 2014, lot 27 (£602,500); one sold Christie’s, Paris, 16 December 2008, lot 9 (€1,185,000); and another sold Christie’s, New York, 2 November 2000, lot 59 ($4,406,000). Perrot’s designs were built on the extraordinary achievements of his predecessors and by modifying the Baroque designs of the Grande Galerie carpets, he honed a new style that retained the architectural framework of the earlier weavings but adopted a less dense organization of the different elements. Representing the development from Baroque to Rococo at the Savonnerie, his designs are lighter and more delicate, often surrounded by floating garlands and bouquets of naturalistic flowers that were greatly in vogue during this period.
With its rich and vibrant colors, the carefully controlled flowing patterns, the use of acanthus and shells, and the emphasis on the central panel, the design of the present carpet is clearly influenced by Perrot’s oeuvre and its cartoon must have been created by one of his close followers. This carpet stands apart from most of Perrot’s works, however, in the somewhat airier arrangement of design elements in both the field and the shaped central cartouche. The designer of this carpet has moved even further from the Baroque aesthetic to create a more lighthearted version of Perrot’s carpets. The ton-sur-ton masks woven at its corners are also quite distinct and cannot be found in surviving weavings or designs by Perrot. Furthermore, the lack of a central rosace, omnipresent in Perrot’s weavings, the restrained architectural framework and the use of the trellis motif as an adaptation of the trompe-l’oeil rustication pattern found in many of Perrot’s works distinguish this carpet from his models. Similar pronounced shell motifs and narrow architectural borders and trellis can be found in a 1754 design by Perrot’s student Jean-Baptiste Chevillon for the Pavillon frais du jardin particulier du roy à Trianon (S.B. Sherrill, Carpets and Rugs of Europe and America, New York, 1996, p. 84, pl. 90). Chevillon was one of the many artists influenced by Perrot who applied for his position at the Savonnerie after his death (P. Verlet, The Savonnerie: The James A de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor, Paris 1982, p. 112). Chevillon was eventually employed at the manufactory where his most notable work was designing carpets to furnish the garden apartments at Trianon as well as the Pavillon du Treillage and the Pavillon du Jardin Français. Chevillion’s cartoon for a carpet designed for the Pavillon du Jardin shows trelliswork and sparingly-decorated reserves similar to those found in the present carpet (see Sherrill, op. cit., p. 83, pl. 89). Contemporaneous records indicate that this particular design represented a cooperation between Chevillon and the painter Louis Tessier, who was responsible for the flowers. Interestingly, the design bears the annotation bon à choisir and approuvé, the latter given by the King personally. Although no signed or attributed design for the present carpet survives, it must have been created by someone intimately familiar with Perrot’s work. Chevillon, the most influential designer at the Savonnerie in the 1750s, was strongly influenced by his master’s oeuvre but at the same time managed to create a style that was distinctly his own. As evidenced by this carpet, Chevillon retained the color palette of Perrot but altered his lush designs, adapting them from Baroque grandeur of the previous generation to the Rococo sensibilities of the 1750s,
The most well-known designer at the Savonnerie of the eighteenth century was without doubt Pierre-Josse Perrot (1700-1750), whose carpets defined the decorative style of Savonnerie during Louis XV's reign and often achieve the highest prices at auction. Notable examples include a carpet sold Christie’s, London 10 July 2014, lot 27 (£602,500); one sold Christie’s, Paris, 16 December 2008, lot 9 (€1,185,000); and another sold Christie’s, New York, 2 November 2000, lot 59 ($4,406,000). Perrot’s designs were built on the extraordinary achievements of his predecessors and by modifying the Baroque designs of the Grande Galerie carpets, he honed a new style that retained the architectural framework of the earlier weavings but adopted a less dense organization of the different elements. Representing the development from Baroque to Rococo at the Savonnerie, his designs are lighter and more delicate, often surrounded by floating garlands and bouquets of naturalistic flowers that were greatly in vogue during this period.
With its rich and vibrant colors, the carefully controlled flowing patterns, the use of acanthus and shells, and the emphasis on the central panel, the design of the present carpet is clearly influenced by Perrot’s oeuvre and its cartoon must have been created by one of his close followers. This carpet stands apart from most of Perrot’s works, however, in the somewhat airier arrangement of design elements in both the field and the shaped central cartouche. The designer of this carpet has moved even further from the Baroque aesthetic to create a more lighthearted version of Perrot’s carpets. The ton-sur-ton masks woven at its corners are also quite distinct and cannot be found in surviving weavings or designs by Perrot. Furthermore, the lack of a central rosace, omnipresent in Perrot’s weavings, the restrained architectural framework and the use of the trellis motif as an adaptation of the trompe-l’oeil rustication pattern found in many of Perrot’s works distinguish this carpet from his models. Similar pronounced shell motifs and narrow architectural borders and trellis can be found in a 1754 design by Perrot’s student Jean-Baptiste Chevillon for the Pavillon frais du jardin particulier du roy à Trianon (S.B. Sherrill, Carpets and Rugs of Europe and America, New York, 1996, p. 84, pl. 90). Chevillon was one of the many artists influenced by Perrot who applied for his position at the Savonnerie after his death (P. Verlet, The Savonnerie: The James A de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor, Paris 1982, p. 112). Chevillon was eventually employed at the manufactory where his most notable work was designing carpets to furnish the garden apartments at Trianon as well as the Pavillon du Treillage and the Pavillon du Jardin Français. Chevillion’s cartoon for a carpet designed for the Pavillon du Jardin shows trelliswork and sparingly-decorated reserves similar to those found in the present carpet (see Sherrill, op. cit., p. 83, pl. 89). Contemporaneous records indicate that this particular design represented a cooperation between Chevillon and the painter Louis Tessier, who was responsible for the flowers. Interestingly, the design bears the annotation bon à choisir and approuvé, the latter given by the King personally. Although no signed or attributed design for the present carpet survives, it must have been created by someone intimately familiar with Perrot’s work. Chevillon, the most influential designer at the Savonnerie in the 1750s, was strongly influenced by his master’s oeuvre but at the same time managed to create a style that was distinctly his own. As evidenced by this carpet, Chevillon retained the color palette of Perrot but altered his lush designs, adapting them from Baroque grandeur of the previous generation to the Rococo sensibilities of the 1750s,