A French Louis XV Pastoral Tapestry, Aubusson, from the series Les Jeux d'Enfants early 18th century,

after designs by Michel Corneille the Elder, probably from the workshop of Villanet or Maingonnat, woven depicting children playing various games in a landscape setting, including a child  seated looking on at three children next to him playing leap-frog, with two further boys wrestling and a running child, with a rocky outcrop to the far right, with a perched bird, with exuberant flowering trees, and a fruiting vine reaching across from two trees, the background landscape centred by a château and formal garden and distant hills, within a four-sided red and gold opposing scrolling trails enclosing stylised floral motif, on a dark brown/black ground, with further narrow banded orange/red and brown inner border, and orange/red outer selvedge

Tapestry is professionally lined (with overlap along lower edge). New Metal eyelets in corners to help with attachment against a wall. orange selvedge, in corners only, otherwise original. Some tiny spots of old moth repair, visible as areas of different colours, see for example brown earth of foreground. Stable background, albeit faded from original colour, and you can still make out the hills and buildings in the background. Faces still have colour. Small minor splits in areas, for example light areas, such as leg of central figure far right with warps showing. This tapestry is of a good size and balanced composition and colour overall. Beautiful details to this charming tapestry.
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The tapestry series `Les Jeux d'Enfants' and the theme of childhood were inspired by two earlier series designed by Charles Le Brun (1619- 1690) depicting Les Saisons (woven 1673 onwards), and later Les Enfants Jardiniers, woven at the Manufacture Royale des Gobelins between 1685-1720, and in addition both series were woven in workshops in both Beauvais (after Louis Hinard) and Lille. In addition Aubusson also took inspiration from an earlier design by Michel Corneille (d. 1664) depicting Les Jeux d'Enfants which were woven in the pre-Gobelins workshop of Raphael de la Planche. Evrard Jabach (Appointed Director of the Royal Tapestry Factory of Aubusson in 1670) probably inspired the weavers of both Aubusson and Felletin to adopt this popular theme. Variations of the subject were also woven by Flemish and English workshops.

Two other Aubusson tapestries from the series Les Jeux d'Enfants, woven depicting La Danse (287 x 345) and Le Saut Mouton (298 x 420), are in the Musée du Petit Palais, Paris, both with workshop signatures, La Danse with that of Maingonnat, and the later with that of Vallenet, with a four-sided gold and yellow banded frame pattern borders, with scrolling foliate and floral motifs, and acanthus clasped medallion motif corners, both illustrated in D. and P. Chevalier, P.-F. Bertrand, Les Tapisseries d'Aubusson et de Felletin, Paris, 1988, pp. 78 and 79.

Another similar weaving, but not identical composition to the offered tapestry, showing groups of children playing various games, wrestling, flying a kite, leap-frog and hide-and seek, with neglected badminton rackets and shuttlecocks on the ground, has appeared on the market, which had in addition to the two groups of the present composition, and additional three central figures, two of which amongst and holding onto the trunks of central trees, and another was running towards the right of the composition, looking over his shoulder to the kite he was pulling behind him, and which was visible at the end of the cord, in the far left corner of the sky, it has the same four-sided gold and yellow banded frame pattern borders, with scrolling foliate and floral motifs, and acanthus clasped medallion motif corners. One weaving (270cm. high, 450cm. wide) was offered by Sotheby's, Amsterdam, 19 -20th November 1996, as lot 134, Provenance, HRH Princess Christina of the Netherlands. Later appearing on the market at Christie's, London, 30^th September 1999, lot 165.  

Further Literature:
Jacqueline Boccara, Ames de laine et de soie pp.266-275 for discussion of the series Les Enfants Jardinniers, and illustrations of various weavings from different workshops.

H. Göbel, Die Wandteppiche, 1928, Part II, Vol.i, Die Gärtnerkinder, pp.115,126,127,145,162 and 360, and op.cit., Part II, Vol.ii, no.81-84, for discussion and selected illustrations of the various similar series.