A LOUIS XVI ALLEGORICAL 'GROTESQUE' TAPESTRY, PROBABLY GOBELINS LAST QUARTER 18TH CENTURY

Previously described as Beauvais or Paris, designs for the present tapestry — and the series of the 'Grotesques'—  were thought to have been based on Pompeiian wall paintings, a taste which enjoyed a revival in around 1770. Painters such as Zucchi and Pergolesi were proponents of this Neo-Pompeiian style, popular throughout Europe through the end of the 18th century.

A tapestry with similar designs and probably from the same workshop was sold in Sotheby's, London, 5 June 1964, Lot 17.