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拍品专文
When Louis XIV ascended the throne in 1661, it was decided with his chief minister, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, that a refurbishment of the Louvre was necessary to make a statement to the world manifesting the power of the King and the State. One aspect of this immense redecoration plan was furnishing the Galerie d'Apollon and the Galerie du Bord de l'Eau, otherwise known as the Grande Galerie, with carpets on a scale not yet achieved in France. The first carpets executed for the renovation were a set of thirteen for the Galerie d'Apollon, considered a trial run for the ninety-two carpets that would be needed to cover the Grand Galerie which, at 1,460 feet by 32 feet, presented an intimidating project.
The task proved to be of great importance in the development of the country's carpetweaving arts, spurring new innovations in the craft. Until this time, the majority of French pile carpets were of relatively small size and were produced either by the Dupont family on looms in the ateliers of the Louvre or by the Lourdet family, who had established competitive workshops in a former soap factory, or savonnerie, at Chaillot. Initially, Colbert planned to commission the new carpets for the Louvre from Ottoman weaving workshops in Cairo, as the existing carpet workshops in France were unable to produce carpets on the large scale required. Simon Lourdet, however, working in conjunction with his son Philippe, proposed that he could fulfill the Louvre commission with new, specially built looms. These looms were as wide as the length of the carpet, rotating the task of weaving by ninety degrees, and thus allowing more weavers to work simultaneously side by side—a novel concept which accelerated production and reduced the time it took to complete a single carpet. Dupont agreed that he could employ the same technique, and thence two ateliers worked together for the first time to accomplish the monumental task. Colbert agreed to this proposition, not only for expediency, but also as he wished to promote domestic industries and retain crown funds in France. After the last carpet for the Galerie d'Apollon was delivered in 1667, work began on the Grande Galerie carpets (see S. B. Sherrill, Carpets and Rugs of Europe and America, New York, 1996, p. 69).
Charles Lebrun, the first painter to the King, was entrusted with the designs of these carpets in 1663 while working closely with Louis Le Vau, the architect in charge. Their cooperation ensured that all the design elements in this refurbishment were complementary and designed along the chosen theme, the Apotheosis of Louis XIV. The ninety-two carpets share in common a black to dark brown background with lush and colorful scrolling foliage, acanthus leaves and rinceaux centering a panel, which varies from piece to piece. At each end of the carpet are tableaux either representing an allegory or a landscape, sometimes woven in grisaille. Each carpet is framed by a unifying blue and gold egg-and-dart variant border in which the darts are replaced by spiraled foliage. The main border is flanked by guilloché and leaf-tip guard borders and further overlaid with a Royal fleur de lys in each corner. The overarching theme was the glorification of the King, the designs exalting his power through the recurring symbols of the Sun, his patron God, Apollo, fleurs de lys, orbs, and interlaced ‘L's’ and crowns, as seen in this example.
Of the ninety-two carpets commissioned and planned for the Grande Galerie, all but one were executed. In addition to these, a number of others were made on the same looms using the Grande Galerie cartoons and were given as diplomatic gifts to foreign sovereigns. The first carpet was delivered to the Louvre in 1670 and the last in 1687 (the present carpet), and yet they were never installed in situ; Louis XIV abandoned the restoration of the Louvre and moved his court to Versailles in 1678. It seems, however, that although the carpets were never laid out at the Louvre, they were nonetheless used on occasion at Versailles for official court functions and ceremonies. Surprisingly, though the carpets were designed as an explicit celebration of Royal prestige, they continued to be appreciated during the Revolution and the Directoire. At this time, many of the Grande Galerie carpets were dispersed to government officials, used to pay governmental debts; many were cut down in size, to fit in less palatial spaces. Most of the extant Grande Galerie carpets known today are preserved in museums, with more than forty examples in the national collections of France, three in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, two in the Huntington Art Gallery, San Marino, CA and three at Waddesdon Manor, as well as others in numerous museums and private collections.
The Aitken carpet mainly consists of two panels sewn together, originally from one of the two carpets that were intended to flank the first carpet of the series (now at the Palazzo Reale in Naples, see W. Burchard, The Sovereign Artist: Charles Le Brun and the Image of Louis XIV, London, 2016, p. 191). All three, the main carpet and the two small ones, were delivered by the widow of Lourdet on 16 June 1687, with the smaller examples woven with “two landscapes, octagonal in shape, and an oval blue and yellow bas-relief” (see P. Verlet, The Savonnerie, London, 1982, p. 475). While the blue and yellow bas-relief formerly between the two landscapes of the Aitken carpet has not been located, the other blue and yellow bas-relief is known to survive, see Christie’s, Paris, 23 June 2005, lot 434. Contrary to what was proposed previously, it is now believed that the first carpet would have been placed in the Pavillon de la Lanterne, at the center of the gallery, and not in the Salon Carré.
This new information about the carpet's exact delivery date, its identification within the scheme and its intended location within the Grande Galerie was kindly provided by Wolf Burchard, Emmanuelle Federspiel and Antonin Macé de Lépinay, who are currently preparing a comprehensive new monograph, in French and English, about Louis XIV’s Savonnerie carpets woven for the Grande Galerie and Galerie d’Apollon, and which will be published in the fall of 2026.
The task proved to be of great importance in the development of the country's carpetweaving arts, spurring new innovations in the craft. Until this time, the majority of French pile carpets were of relatively small size and were produced either by the Dupont family on looms in the ateliers of the Louvre or by the Lourdet family, who had established competitive workshops in a former soap factory, or savonnerie, at Chaillot. Initially, Colbert planned to commission the new carpets for the Louvre from Ottoman weaving workshops in Cairo, as the existing carpet workshops in France were unable to produce carpets on the large scale required. Simon Lourdet, however, working in conjunction with his son Philippe, proposed that he could fulfill the Louvre commission with new, specially built looms. These looms were as wide as the length of the carpet, rotating the task of weaving by ninety degrees, and thus allowing more weavers to work simultaneously side by side—a novel concept which accelerated production and reduced the time it took to complete a single carpet. Dupont agreed that he could employ the same technique, and thence two ateliers worked together for the first time to accomplish the monumental task. Colbert agreed to this proposition, not only for expediency, but also as he wished to promote domestic industries and retain crown funds in France. After the last carpet for the Galerie d'Apollon was delivered in 1667, work began on the Grande Galerie carpets (see S. B. Sherrill, Carpets and Rugs of Europe and America, New York, 1996, p. 69).
Charles Lebrun, the first painter to the King, was entrusted with the designs of these carpets in 1663 while working closely with Louis Le Vau, the architect in charge. Their cooperation ensured that all the design elements in this refurbishment were complementary and designed along the chosen theme, the Apotheosis of Louis XIV. The ninety-two carpets share in common a black to dark brown background with lush and colorful scrolling foliage, acanthus leaves and rinceaux centering a panel, which varies from piece to piece. At each end of the carpet are tableaux either representing an allegory or a landscape, sometimes woven in grisaille. Each carpet is framed by a unifying blue and gold egg-and-dart variant border in which the darts are replaced by spiraled foliage. The main border is flanked by guilloché and leaf-tip guard borders and further overlaid with a Royal fleur de lys in each corner. The overarching theme was the glorification of the King, the designs exalting his power through the recurring symbols of the Sun, his patron God, Apollo, fleurs de lys, orbs, and interlaced ‘L's’ and crowns, as seen in this example.
Of the ninety-two carpets commissioned and planned for the Grande Galerie, all but one were executed. In addition to these, a number of others were made on the same looms using the Grande Galerie cartoons and were given as diplomatic gifts to foreign sovereigns. The first carpet was delivered to the Louvre in 1670 and the last in 1687 (the present carpet), and yet they were never installed in situ; Louis XIV abandoned the restoration of the Louvre and moved his court to Versailles in 1678. It seems, however, that although the carpets were never laid out at the Louvre, they were nonetheless used on occasion at Versailles for official court functions and ceremonies. Surprisingly, though the carpets were designed as an explicit celebration of Royal prestige, they continued to be appreciated during the Revolution and the Directoire. At this time, many of the Grande Galerie carpets were dispersed to government officials, used to pay governmental debts; many were cut down in size, to fit in less palatial spaces. Most of the extant Grande Galerie carpets known today are preserved in museums, with more than forty examples in the national collections of France, three in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, two in the Huntington Art Gallery, San Marino, CA and three at Waddesdon Manor, as well as others in numerous museums and private collections.
The Aitken carpet mainly consists of two panels sewn together, originally from one of the two carpets that were intended to flank the first carpet of the series (now at the Palazzo Reale in Naples, see W. Burchard, The Sovereign Artist: Charles Le Brun and the Image of Louis XIV, London, 2016, p. 191). All three, the main carpet and the two small ones, were delivered by the widow of Lourdet on 16 June 1687, with the smaller examples woven with “two landscapes, octagonal in shape, and an oval blue and yellow bas-relief” (see P. Verlet, The Savonnerie, London, 1982, p. 475). While the blue and yellow bas-relief formerly between the two landscapes of the Aitken carpet has not been located, the other blue and yellow bas-relief is known to survive, see Christie’s, Paris, 23 June 2005, lot 434. Contrary to what was proposed previously, it is now believed that the first carpet would have been placed in the Pavillon de la Lanterne, at the center of the gallery, and not in the Salon Carré.
This new information about the carpet's exact delivery date, its identification within the scheme and its intended location within the Grande Galerie was kindly provided by Wolf Burchard, Emmanuelle Federspiel and Antonin Macé de Lépinay, who are currently preparing a comprehensive new monograph, in French and English, about Louis XIV’s Savonnerie carpets woven for the Grande Galerie and Galerie d’Apollon, and which will be published in the fall of 2026.