This painting is an exciting rediscovery of what is almost certainly a modello for the design of one of the original tapestries in the famous and popular series of The Story of the Emperor of China.  Dating from the end of the 17th century, the set of tapestries was chiefly designed by Guy-Louis Vernansal, with the assistance of Jean-Baptiste Monnoyer and Jean-Baptiste Belin de Fontenay and woven at the Beauvais factory for the duc du Maine (fig. 1).

As Monnoyer left France in 1690 the original designs can likely be dated as early as beterrn 1685 and 1690. The series was probably woven in the shop of Philippe Behagle, or that of his son or widow. Behagle, as director of the Beauvais manufactory, mentioned a "dessin de Chinoise" in a memorandum, dating between 1685 and 1705. In 1731, the Beauvais inventory lists this "dessein de Chinois", as executed by the three designers. Furthermore, the compositions for a set made for the comte de Toulouse before 1705, have survived and are associated with these same three names.

The series is an early example of the late 17th and early 18th century decorative art interpretation of a fantasized exotism known as Chinoiserie. The tapestries also had a political influence, showcasing the close ties between France and the Far East, especially China during the Kangxi era. In 1684 and 1686, Louis XIV received the Ambassador of Siam and the interest in China and her neighbors was further stimulated by accounts of travels, engravings, imported objects and commodities. The return to Paris in 1697 of Father Joachim Bouvet, the French Jesuit scientist who journeyed to China in 1685, may have inspired the designs for the tapestries, although Chinoiserie was certainly in vogue before his departure. He subsequently published a book, Portrait Historique de l'Empereur de la Chine, and a volume of engravings by Giffart was published in 1697, based upon drawings of figures in oriental costume given to Louis XIV by Bouvet. However, as Standen (op. cit.) states, the first weaving was in gold, a rarity at Beauvais, and was likely commissioned by the duc de Maine who had given one of his own scientific instruments to the Jesuit missionaries to take on their travels when they left for China in 1685. Furthermore, the interest aroused by the mission may have given rise to the concept of the series which would date it earlier, in keeping with Monnoyer's stay in France.

The duc du Maine, legitimized son of King Louis XIV and Madame de Montespan, was the initiator of the first series, which was composed of nine tapestries, made of wool, silk, silver and gold thread and in horizontal formats, as reflected in the present painting. Attesting to their great popularity, the tapestries continued to be re-produced over a period of forty years, many in a more vertical format. The tapestries presented many variations, but the most important to mention are: l’Embarquement de l’Impératrice, l’Empereur en voyage, les Astronomes, l’Audience de l’Empereur (or du prince), le Thé de l’Impératrice, la Récolte des Ananas, le Retour de la chasse, and our piece, la Collation. The second weaving was produced for the Comte de Toulouse, the Duc du Maine’s brother, for his castle in Rambouillet which he bought from Fleuriau d’Armenonville. Other sets were woven for private clientele in Paris, which included the Presidente de Brosse. This series knew great success; between 1722 and 1731 thirty-eight sets were woven, thirty of which were sold in France and Germany.

Two versions of the original tapestry The Emperor on a Journey from the collection of the comte de Toulouse remain, the complete tapestry in the Musée National du Château de Compiègne and an upright example (without the pagoda and figures) in the J.P. Getty Museum (fig. 2). Other variations from the series are mainly housed in important institutions, amongst others the Musée du Petit Palais, the Musée du Louvre, the château de Compiègne, the Musée de Tessé in Le Mans, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Getty Museum and the Residenz in Munich.

The present work is almost certainly a modello, or preparatory design, for the original tapestry series given its horizontal format. Once designed in a painting such as the present work, a cartoon would have been made at the scale of the full tapestries. Both a modello and a cartoon would be presented in reverse of the final tapestries themselves as a tapestry is woven from behind; the cartoon is put under the warp threads of a loom and the weaver works on the reverse with the recto of the finished tapestry ultimately shown in reverse of the cartoon.

Further confirmation that the present work is a preparatory design, rather than painted after the tapestries, are some of the shifts in the birds, particularly the presence of a peacock near the temple steps, which does not exist in most of the tapestries, and the red bird on the steps which appears as a parrot here but in the tapestries is long-legged, as a storck or heron would be.

We are grateful to Pascal Bertrand and Charissa Bremer-David for their assistance with the cataloguing of the present work.