A Charles X Aubusson pile (au point de la Savonnerie) carpet, France

Carpets from the J. Paul Getty Museum, sold, Sotheby's, New York, December 8, 1990, lot 10, illustrated

The manufacture of pile carpets in France is most often associated with the production of the Royal Manufactory of the Savonnerie (so-called because the workshops were set up in an old soap factory), which was established by Marie de Medici in 1626.  However, the Savonnerie factory was often at capacity fulfilling Royal commissions and, to meet the demand both from the French aristocracy and for export, in 1743 pile carpet production was instigated at Aubusson.  The town of Aubusson had a long tradition of tapestry weaving, stretching back to the 15th century, but by the later 18th century was producing substantial numbers of pile woven carpets in the 'Savonnerie manner', (see Jarry, Madeleine, The Carpets of Aubusson, Leigh on Sea, 1969).  Unlike the Savonnerie factory, where production was centralised, in Aubusson, carpets were woven in several independent workshops.

The scale and design of this example, with a central 'rose moresque', floral wreaths and acanthus scrolls, is reminiscent of the designs of the Empire period.  During the Restauration, however, the style developed a more robust, less feminine quality and the example here typifies this evolution; compare for example, the bold acanthus scrolls seen here with the more attenuated version employed in an Empire period carpet in the Collection Mobilier National, see Jarry, op.cit., fig. 46.

Whilst the carpets at Aubusson were woven under the aegis of independent workshops, the cartoons for the designs were obtained from French government agencies and were often the same cartoons as those being used at the Savonnerie.  One of the pre-eminent designers during the periods of the Empire, Restauration and Louis-Phillipe, was La Hamayade de Saint-Ange.  Comparisons between this carpet and other known Saint-Ange carpets suggest that this piece was probably woven from one of his cartoons, see Jarry, op.cit. figs.57 and 59 and Sotheby's New York, November 4, 1989, lot 323.  Saint-Ange carpet designs created for the Savonnerie and collected in the folio Receuil de Dessins de Tapis et de Tapisseries d'ameublement du Mobilier de la Couronne, Paris (undated, but circa 1820), illustrate design motifs similar to those seen in the present example.

The output from several of the workshops in Aubusson was of a quality to rival that of the Savonnerie.  During the First Empire, Jean Salandrouze de la Mornaix established a successful factory in Aubusson, as well as a retail shop in Paris, producing "carpets which compared most favourably with those woven at Savonnerie itself" (Jarry, op.cit., p.32).  In fact, such was the reputation of the Sallandrouze carpets, that they received both Imperial and later, Royal commissions, ibid., p.32.  The present example exhibits a high level of quality, both in terms of weaving and execution of the design, possibly indicating that it is the product of the accomplished weavers of Sallandrouze de la Mornaix.