Description

Reference No.: 78J/ D306

Origin: France-Beauvais

Period: 18th century

Origin: Private Collection

Composition: Wool and silk

Dimension: 2.55 L x 2.92 H

Tapestry of Beauvais "la Foire Chinoise" after François BOUCHER 1767-1769

After the isit to the court of Louis XIV in Versailles in 1684 of the highly exotic Embassy sent by Phra Narai, King of Siam, France was seized of "Chinomania". The Far East then became an endless source of inspiration for the decorative arts: under the impetus of merchants, porcelain, bronzes, furniture and various trinkets were decorated with often whimsical chinoiseries. Tapestries were also subjected to this fashion and several curtains were woven on this subject.

These drapes, which met with great success, were made in ten copies between 1743 and 1775 by the Beauvais factory before being taken over by the Aubusson workshops.

Comprising six pieces (Chinese Meal, Chinese Dance, Chinese Fair, Chinese Fishing, Chinese Hunting and the Chinese Garden that has become the Toilet), they were executed on the cardboards painted by Jean-Joseph Dumons after eight sketches created by François Boucher in 1742 (replacing those of "L'Histoire du Roy de la Chine" made by Blin de Fontenay, Vernansal and Monnoyer dating from 1690 and too used, "the drawing so pleasant is so worn that nothing can be seen anymore").

Five curtains decorated with the coats of arms of France and Navarre were woven especially for the King to be offered to foreign courts.

One of them was given in 1759 to Count Von Moltke, Marshal of the Danish Court, and is now in the Danish royal collections of Amalienborg Castle. Another will be shared between the Count of Vergennes and Thierry de la Ville d'Avray. Invau's financial controller had a three-piece suite delivered to him. The Museum of Art in Philadelphia keeps a tapestry with French arms as well as the National Furniture (recently exhibited in Versailles),

Among the drapes without a coat of arms, for example, we know that Charron, director of the Manufacture, had three pieces woven on his own account. And today there is a complete hanging at the Palazzo Reale in Turin, one of five pieces at Dalmeny House in Scotland and isolated examples such as the Minneapolis Museum. The rest is distributed in a few private collections.

But the most famous of these curtains was put on the job in 1758 for Bertin, Minister of Foreign Affairs. He entrusted it to two Chinese, Aloys Kao and Thomas Yang, returning to the Jesuit mission in China, who in turn offered it to the Emperor Qianlong in 1767. The latter, not wanting to install them in a temple so as not to offend the faith of Christians, not finding an apartment large enough in his palaces to accommodate them, decided to build a European-style wing at the Summer Palace to hang them. Michel Benoist, a Jesuit living in China"... K'ien Long's scruples prove his delicacy of soul; the order to build this palace, its magnificence". They stayed there until the Summer Palace bag in 1860. The Fair was then brought back by a French officer, put up for sale by the Maison Braquenié, and bought by Count Pozzo di Borgo for his castle of Montretout which burned in 1871. The toilet was carried by an English officer, Colonel Greathed. The other four are presented, at least until 1924, in the National Museum of China in Beijing.

Bibliography: Madeleine Jarry "Chinoiseries à la mode de Beauvais", Plaisir de France, May 1975, reproduction page 56. Pascal-François Bertrand, "La deuxième tenture chinoise tissée à Beauvais et Aubusson", Gazette des Beaux-Arts, November 1990. Marie-Laure de Rochebrune "La Chine à Versailles" Somogy, Paris 2014, page 162.

Our house assures you the sale of a tapestry with invoice and approved expertise, well cleaned, in good condition with its fixing system. If necessary, we will inform you of the work that has been done. All our tapestries can be presented to you at your home in France and neighbouring countries before your final decision.