Europe - Tapestries

Aubusson tapestry of 18th century Aubusson SCENE GALANT with very pretty perssonnage- N° 1253 Thanks to our Restoration-Conservation workshop and also ...

Magnificent Antique Brussels Allegorical Tapestry Dating from 17th Century Woven in wools and silks depicting two wreathed Putti holding a plumed helmet surrounded by trophies The...

This is a large vintage wall tapestry. A French, quality needlepoint display panel depicting a Medieval tournament scene, dating to the late 20th...

Rape of the Sabine Women, Flanders Tapestry, Late 16th Century - L4m22xh2m35 - No. 1473 Manufacture Des Flandres Epoque: 16th century Style: Haute époque-Renaissance-Louis XIII Condi...

Tapestry French Rustic style Aubusson Baroque Louis XV, France. Mid-20th century, machine woven.         

Superb and unique large embroidery from the end of the 19th century representing numerous characters, animals and two trees. Superb quality work on a black background which really b...

Discover the epitome of luxury with our Ottoman Carnation Motif Hand Embroidered Silk Suzani Tapestry. This exquisite piece features intricate carnation motifs, meticulously hand-emb...

A highly refined embroidery embellished by an infinite repeat of stylised leafs and palmettes typical of 16th Century Ottoman Court workshops. It belongs to a group of weavings commissioned by a British interior designer and no longer in production. It is therefore a one off, displaying the art of Ottoman silk embroidery...

Finely worked in colored woolens and depicting hunters and two lovers, signed: 'J.V.D.VELDE' Date; c. 1950-70's A charming tapestry in very good condition and representative o...

Bruxella In Brabanti, important Tapestry from Atelier Georges Chaudoir - Sun, Marce Truyens - N° 1528 Artist: Soleil by Marce Truyens Era: 20th century Style: 1950s-1960s design Con...

Powerful original fabric panel designed by Verner Panton during 1969-1971. 100% cotton material, Art. VP-ON-22. Mira-X Collection Decor I., Made in Switzerland. The fabric panel is ...

Very beautiful and rare antique embroidery probably french, from the 17th century, with floral design and nice natural colors, embroidered with wool, Sizes including the frame : 45...

17th Century Altar Cloth Fragments Framed in a bois dore frame with green behind glass Made of hand woven silk Metallic thread embroidered Depicting Cornucopia also known as the Hor...

Unique wall tapestry by Jean Leuenberger

- 1960s - Perfect condition.

This magnificent modern tapestry from the Aubusson Manufacture, having benefited from a deep cleaning and a careful verification and doubled by experts in our artisanal Workshop. It ...

VIGON (after) "The coronation of Mélinte and Ariane" Tapestry from the Royal Manufacture of Aubusson second half of the 17th century. Woven in wool and silk This interesting tapestry...

Very pretty Tapestry 19th century Aubusson chinoiserie style with very pretty and freche colors ref. 1100.

Beautiful naive Egyptian tapestry with a childish design of the town and animals, entirely handwoven with wool.

Unique wall tapestry by Jean Leuenberger

French Tapestry Signed By The Aubusson Factory, Circa 1860 - 278lx200h - No. 1474 This tapestry is a fine example of the 19th century Aubusson verdure. This type of tapestry is char...

Beautiful 20th century ( 1950s circa) Egyptian wall tapestry handmade in wool. It was hand knotted by the tribes of north africa in egypt. A na...

"Exquisite 18th-century French needlepoint tapestry fragment ! This beautiful and historic piece features a floral and foliage design in vibrant blue, green, orange, pink, and yellow...

Tapestry by Olle Nyman, Sweden 1960s H: 232 cm / 7' 7 3/8" L: 127.5 cm / 4' 2 3/16"

Discover the elegance of this mid-century French screen printed tapestry by hand featuring the exquisite design of the renowned medieval tapestry, "Rendez vous de chasse » ( hunting...

Regency Hot Air Balloon Sampler, 1828, by Mary Ann Paine Aged 7. The sampler is worked in silk threads on a linen ground, mainly in cross stitch. Meandering leafy border. Colours red...

Antique embroidered picture of a pair of birds. The embroidery is worked in silk and a cotton-like thread on a linen ground. Colours greens...

Swedish hand embroidered wall tapestry with geometric pattern in wool including the variations on the Swedish flag. It is hand made circa 1960.

Discover the elegance of this mid-century French Aubusson style tapestry made with wool and cotton , by screen printing method by hand, featuring the exquisite design of the renowned medieval museum tapestry, « The Unicorn is Assailed. From the Unicorn Hunt Tapestries...

Located a stone's throw from the Eiffel Tower in Paris, we are a French family business specializing in the purchase, sale, expertise, cleaning, restoration and conservation of tapes...

Elevate your space with a stunning antique Aubusson-style tapestry from the early 20th century. Meticulously woven on a jacquard loom using a blend of luxurious wool and cotton, this...

An exceptional handmade signed modern Aubusson tapestry, Modernist, Forme-Libre, Lyrical Abstraction, made in thick wool hand woven, depicting an abstract yet floral, organic motif...

Pretty 19th century French tapestry cardboard with a nice design of swing game featuring a young man standing pushing a young girl sitting on the swing. At a setting in the woods, be...

Large vintage Suzani Uzbek Samarkand textile, Suzani means needlework and these embroideries are some of the most characteristic forms of tex...

Tapestry from the Royal Manufacture of Aubusson, Louis XVI period , made in 1738 at the Gobelins One panel from a series of Gobelins tapestries depicting the History of Esther, illustrating Esther seated and attended by handmaidens, one washing her feet in golden basin, another fastening a bracelet, another offering a mirror, all observed by Mordecai, woven in the workshop of Michele Audran after a design by J. F. de Troy. The Toilet of Esther c.1778-85.Royal Collection Trust-Queens Audience Chamber Windsor Castle The Sketches for the Esther Cycle by Jean-François de Troy (1736) “and the maid was fair and beautiful; whom Mor’decai, ..., took for his own daughter.” (Est. 2:7) A supple and undulating genius, both a flattering portraitist and a prolix history painter, as well as a brilliant genre painter, in a gallant or worldly vein, Jean-François de Troy (Paris, 1679 – Rome, 1752), solicited, although he had passed the threshold of old age, a new royal commission up to his ambitions. To obtain it, he submitted – successfully - for the approval of the Bâtiments du roi (administration), seven modelli painted in 1736 with his usual alacrity. Inspired by one of the most novelistic texts of the Old Testament, the Book of Esther, these sketches in a rapid and virtuoso manner were transformed by the artist, between 1737 and 1740 into large cartoons intended to serve as models for the weavers of the Gobelins factory. Showing undeniable ease and skill in the composition in perfect harmony with the sensitivities of the times, the tapestry set met with great success. The Story of Esther perfectly corresponded to the plan of the Bâtiments du roi to renew the repertoire of tapestry models used for the weavers of the royal factories while it also conformed to the tastes of Louis XV’s subjects for a fantastical Orient, the set for a dramatic tale in which splendour, love and death were combined. Indeed, no tapestry set was woven in France during the 18th century as often as that of Esther. The series of modelli painted by de Troy during the year 1736 looks to the history of French painting and decoration under Louis XV as much as it does the history of the Gobelins. It probably counts among the most important rococo pictorial groups to have remained in private hands. First the Biblical source illustrated by De Troy which constitutes the base of one of the richest iconographical traditions of Western art will be considered. Then the circumstances and specific character of French civilisation during the reigns of Louis XIV and Louis XV which contributed to making the theme of Esther a relevant subject, both attractive to contemporaries and remarkably in line with the sensitivities of the time will be elucidated. An examination of the exceptional series of sketches united here, the cartoons and the tapestries that they anticipate as well as a study of their reception will close this essay. The Book of Esther: A scriptural source at the source of rich iconography. The origin of the Esther tapestry set by Jean-François de Troy – origin and creation of a masterpiece According to the evidence of one of the artist’s early biographers, the chevalier de Valory, author of a posthumous elegy of the master, read at the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture on 6 February 1762, it was apparently due to early16 rivalry with François Lemoyne (1688-1737), his younger colleague who had precisely just been appointed First Painter to the King in 1736, that had encouraged François de Troy to seek a commission allowing him to show off his ease and his promptitude at the expense of a rival who was notoriously laborious: “M. De Troy, retaining some resentment of the kind of disadvantage which he believed to have suffered compared with his emulator looked to regain some territory by making use of the facility his rival did not possess. Lemoyne was excessively long in the creation of his works,and M. De Troy of a rare celerity: consequently, with this particular talent, the latter offered to the court to make paintings appropriate to be executed at the Gobelins Factory; and it is to this circumstance that we owe the beautiful series of the Story of Esther, which would be sufficient alone to give him a great reputation.”17 Beyond the suspicion inspired by the topos, which still constitutes, more or less, a tale of rivalries between artists in ancient literature, there is probably some truth in what Valory reports although A.-J. Dezalier d’Argenville (who indicates rather spitefully that de Troy did not hesitate to “cut prices” to impose himself, benefitting from the productivity assured by the unlikely rapidity of his brush)18 proves to be more evasive: “As he looked to busy himself, he had offered to make the paintings that serve as models for the King’s tapestries cheaply: which did not please his colleagues. He was given a choice of two tapestry series to be made and he took the Story of Esther and that of Jason”.19 Whether or not the choice was actually left to de Troy (which would appear rather casual on the royal administration’s part all the same), it seems likely that the artist, whose contemporaries extol his “fire”, as the faculty of invention was then called, must have ardently aspired to the possibility of using on a very large scale the “creative genius” with which Dezallier d’Argenville credits him. The decoration of the private apartments, the fashion for which Louis XV had promoted at Versailles and Fontainebleau, offered little opportunity to excel in this area. Other than painting for altarpieces, only tapestries could allow comparison with Lemoyne who had been granted – unfortunately for him – a major decoration: the enormous ceiling of the Hercules Room at Versailles. Favoured by the recent improvement in France’s financial situation, the revival of patronage offered de Troy a commission fitting for him, in a field in which, however, he had hardly any experience. Anxious to renew the repertoire of models available to the Gobelins factory, the Duc d’Antin, surintendant des Bâtiments du roi from 1708 to 1736 followed by his successor, Philibert Orry comte de Vignory, gave him the task of producing seven large cartoons inspired by the Book of Esther corresponding to the brilliant sketches or modelli which de Troy had produced in one go, or almost (very few preparatory drawings can in fact be linked to the Esther cycle and all seem to be at the execution stage of the cartoons).20 Subjected to the approval of the Administration des Bâtiments according to the procedure in use for projects being planned for the Gobelins, sketches made rapidly during 1736 were approved and the project launched immediately. Thereupon came the news of François Lemoyne’s death, who, ground down by work and a victim of his private torment, committed suicide on 4 June 1737. Against all expectations, de Troy did not replace his rival in the position of First Painter (which remained vacant until the appointment of Charles Coypel in January 1747), which would perhaps have made him too obviously the beneficiary of the drama. The awarding of the position of Director of the French Academy in Rome came to console him while he had already produced (or he was in the process of finishing), in Paris, three of the seven cartoons of the cycle (The Fainting of Esther finished in 1737 and the Toilet and Coronation of Esther, both finished in 1738). De Troy, we can see, did not follow the order of the narrative but began with the subjects which apparently offered the least difficulty because he had already depicted them, or because they fall into a strong pictorial tradition (such is the case especially for the Fainting of Esther). He had hardly settled at the Palazzo Mancini in August 1738, when his first task which awaited the new director of the French Academy naturally consisted of honouring the royal commission and finishing without delay the final cartoons of the Story of Esther after the sketches he must have taken with him. As prompt as ever, de Troy discharged himself of the execution of the four remaining cartoons in only two years, by beginning with the largest format which allowed him to strike the imagination and to impose himself as soon as he arrived on the Roman stage: the Triumph of Mor’decai which was finished in 1739 (like Esther’s Banquet). The following year, the Mor’decai's Disdain and The Sentencing of Haman were brought to an end in the same Neo-Venetian style, obviously tributary to Veronese with its choice of “open” monumental architecture which is characteristic of the entire cycle.21 The series, it should be noted, was almost augmented with some additional scenes in the mid 1740s. Indeed, the first tapestry set finished at the Gobelins in 1744 proved to be unsuitable for the arrangement of the Dauphine’s apartments at Versailles for which it had been intended to decorate the walls the following year (cf infra). Informed of this, de Troy, considering that the story of Esther offered “several good subjects,” immediately offered to illustrate one or new subject among those “which could appear to be the most interesting”. The directeur des Bâtiments Orry, who managed the State’s accounts, obviously judged it less costly to have one of the tapestries widened to fill in the end of the Dauphine’s bedroom,22 which has probably deprived us of very original compositions, because de Troy had already illustrated the most famous themes, those that benefitted from a strongly established iconographical tradition and from which it was not easy to deviate The Tapestry Set of the Story of Esther Placed on the tapestry looms of the Gobelins at the end of the 1730s in Michel Audran’s workshop, the cycle created by de Troy aroused true infatuation. The few hundred tapestries made between 1738 and 1797 – all in high-warp tapestry and woven in wool and silk except for four in low-warp made in Neilson’s workshop – show the impressive success of a tapestry set that was without any doubt the most frequently woven of the 18th century in France. 29 Only three cartoons had been delivered by de Troy in 1738 when the first tapestry set was begun by Audran under the expert eye of Jean-Baptiste Oudry to whom the Directeur général des bâtiments, Philibert Orry had assigned the (weekly) supervision of the weaving. During the summer of 1738, the piece of the Fainting of Esther, which Oudry judged to be admirable, was finished. During the winter of 1742, Oudry informed Orry that about two ells of the Triumph of Mor’decai had been made “with no faults”,that the Coronation of Esther was finished and that the Esther at her Toilet “a very gracious tapestry” was “a little over half” finished. Exhibited at Versailles in 1743, these two last pieces were admired by Louis XV and the Court. On 3 December 1744, the set of seven tapestries was finally delivered to the Garde Meuble. It was intended, the honour was not slight, to decorate the apartments of the Infanta Maria Teresa Rafaela of Spain whose marriage to the young Dauphin Louis-Ferdinand had been fixed for the following year (it took place on 23 February 1745). Apparently it was thought that the theme of Esther the biblical heroine and wife of a foreign sovereign was appropriate for the apartments of the Spanish Dauphine. As early as the month of March, the architect Ange-Jacques Gabriel informed de Troy that her grand cabinet was decorated with the “Esther tapestry set” specifying however that “for lack of two small or one large piece, we have not been able to decorate the end of the room”. This difficulty led immediately to the Banquet episode being woven a second time in two parts (they were delivered to the Garde-Meuble on 30 December 1746) to garnish the panels on each side of the bed of the Dauphine who would hardly enjoy them (she died on 22 July 1746 and the decoration was installed for the new Dauphine Maria Josepha of Saxony). The appearance of the set’s remarkable border, which imitated a richly sculpted wooden frame, should be mentioned. Conceived in 1738 by the ornamentalist Pierre Josse-Perrot and used in the later weavings until 1768, it tended to reinforce the resolutely painterly appearance of the tapestry set which, in this regard, pushed the art of tapestry as far as its ultimate mimetic possibilities. With the exception of Mor’decai's Disdain which had been removed earlier, the “editio princeps” of the story of Esther (from then on in nine pieces) remained at Versailles until the Revolution. Of the eight surviving tapestries, four are at the chateau of Compiègne and four belong today to the Mobilier National. No less than seven tapestry sets reputed to be complete (one of them in fact only had six tapestries) would be produced officially at the Gobelins up to 1772. Literature: 1- The Œuvres mêlées of an emulator of Racine, the Abbé Augustin NADAL thus include an Esther. Divertissement spiritual which is exactly contemporary with Jean François de Troy’s cycle since it was performed in 1735 and published in Paris three years later. 2-Le Siècle de Louis XIV, 1751, 1785 ed., p. 96-97 for French ed. 3- Lemoyne and de Troy had been obliged to share the First Prize in the competition organised in 1727 between the most prominent history painters of the Académie Royale. 4- Mémoires…, pub. L. DUSSIEUX et al., 1854, II, p.265. 5-The fact that de Troy, at the risk of falling out with his colleagues, did not hesitate to make use of prices in order to convince the new directeur des Bâtiments Philibert Orry, is confirmed by Mariette who adds tersely “it caused much shouting” (pub. 1851-1860, II, p. 103). 6- Abrégé de la vie des plus fameux peintres…, ed. 1762, IV, p. 368-369 20 Early comments on the painter are inclined to present him as a kind of “pure painter”, doing without the medium of drawing, a few intermediary studies between the Esther sketches and the large cartoons at the Louvre nevertheless show that de Troy used red chalk (see in the catalogue, the notice for the Meal of Esther and Ahasuerus under the entry drawing) to change one or other figure. 7-C. GASTINEL-COURAL (cat. exp. PARIS, 1985, p. 9-13) as well as the article by J. VITTET, exh. cat. LA ROCHE-GUYON, 2001, p. 51-55. 8-The Hermitage in St. Petersburg conserves five tapestries of these two royal gifts whose provenance still awaits elucidation (as far as we are aware). In 1766, the Grand Marshal of Russia, Count Razumovski (or Razamowski), acquired the Fainting and the Banquet extracted from the sixth weaving (J. VITTET, 2001, p. 53). 9- Lettres écrites de Suisse, d’Italie…,quoted by J. VITTET, op. cit., p. 54. 10-The tapestry set remained in the hands of a branch of the Hapsburg-Lorraine family until 1933 (ibid. P. 54). 11-Quoted by Chr. LERIBAULT, 2002, p. 97, note 269. 12-Y. CANTAREL-BESSON, 1992, p. 241. Catalogue The Esther at her Toilet Oil on canvas, 57 x 51 cm Provenance: Painted in 1736 at the same time as the six other modelli of the Story of Esther intended to be presented, for approval, to the direction des Bâtiments du Roi; perhaps identifiable among a lot of sketches by Jean-François de Troy in the post mortem inventory of the amateur, historian and critic Claude-Henri Watelet (1718-1786) drawn up on 13 January 1786 and following days (A.N. T 978, n° 30) then in the sale of the property of the deceased, Paris, 12 June 1786, n° 33; Paris, François Marcille Collection (who owned a series of six sketches from which the Triumph of Mor’decai was missing, see infra); Paris, Marcille Sale, Hôtel Drouot, 12-13 January 1857, n° 36; Asnières, Mme de Chavanne de Palmassy ( ?) collection; Paris, Galerie Cailleux; Paris, Humbert de Wendel collection (acquired from the Galerie Cailleux in 1928); by inheritance in the same family; Paris, Sotheby’s, 23 June 2011, n° 61. In order not to add unnecessarily to the technical commentary on each work, the catalogue raisonné by Chr. Leribault which contains a substantial bibliography on the series should be referred to. The other bibliographical references only concern the publications and exhibitions to have appeared and been presented more recently. Bibliography and Exhibitions: Chr. LERIBAULT, 2002, n° P. 247 (repr.); E. LIMARDO DATURI, 2004, p. 28; Exh. cat. NANTES, 2011, p. 138, n° 34, referred to in note 1; Sotheby’s catalogue, Tableaux anciens et du XIXe siècle, 23 June 2011, n° 61 (repr.). Related Works: Tapestry cartoon: The cartoon (oil on canvas, 329 x 320 cm), the third made by the artist in Paris after the sketches had been approved by the direction des Bâtiments, is in the Louvre (Inv. 8315). It previously bore the painter’s signature and the date 1738 (inscriptions which are found on the tapestries). The royal administration paid 1600 livres for it on 21 June 1738 and it was exhibited at the Salon in the year of its creation. Summary Biography 1679 (27 January): Baptism in Paris (Parish of St. Nicolas du Chardonnet) of Jean-François de Troy, son of the painter François de Troy and Jeanne Cotelle, sister of the painter Jean II Cotelle. 1696-1698: Studies (apparently rather turbulent) at the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture. 1698-1708: First trip to Italy. Is obliged to leave Rome in January 1711 after a tempestuous affair (a duel?), de Troy extends the traditional Roman experience as a pensionnaire at the Académie de France by also visiting Tuscany where he stays for a long time, Venice (his art in face has a strongly Venetian character) and Genoa. 1708: De Troy (whose father had been elected Director of the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture on 7 July) is agréé and immediately received at the Académie with Apollo and Diana Piercing with their Arrows the Children of Niobe (Montpellier, Musée Fabre) on 28 July. 1710: First royal commission, paid for on 10 May (a sketch representing “the Promotion of the Order of the Holy Spirit” for the tapestry series of the History of the King). 1716: Jean-François de Troy is elected Assistant Professor at the Academy. 1720: He is appointed Professor. 1723: The artist creates the double portrait of Louis XV...

Nice embroidery from Indonesia mid-20th century entirely hand embroidered with a Lyon design and nice colors.

Discover the elegance of this mid-century French hand-printed, numbered tapestry featuring the exquisite design of the renowned medieval museum tapestry, "Les Vendanges" (grape harve...

A stone's throw from the Eiffel Tower We are a family business specializing in the purchase, sale and expertise of old, modern and contemporary tapestries, rugs, kilims and textiles....

Tapisserie murale artistique tridimensionnelle en très bon état. Art abstrait avec les formes et les couleurs bien caractéristiques de Joan Miro. Pièce unique Espagne, ca. 1970

Artist: Charles Marcel Jean Picart Le Doux Period: 20th century Style: Design 50s-60s Condition: Perfect condition Material: Tapestry Width: 143 cm Height: 113 cm Depth: 0.5 cm The ...

Unusual color for this vintage Uzbekistan Suzani, suitable as bedspread, wall decoration or table cover. There are little stains, but I'm asking less than its cost (I want to cl...

1910/M, I hope You can understand what it is from some photos only. Museum quality antique sofa, coating with an authentic Aubusson old tapestry: every...

Vintage bird tapestry in the style of Jean Lurçat, signed Elbé. French production circa 1970.

A Flemish Figural Tapestry Panel Dating from late 17th century Hand woven in naturally dyed wools and silks Depicting a Maiden playing a musical instrument within a garden setting...

Maïlys Seydoux-Dumas, Prairial, Wool Tapestry, Néolice, 2023 A wool woven tapestry figuring a blue, brown and orange tree on a green background. Signed on the lower left. Numbered 1...

Very beautiful 20th century Aubusson tapestry with a design with a signature « Popelin » , probably iinspired by the paintings of French painter « Francois Boucher » with the shepher...

Handwoven tapestry, 'Le Bouc Bleu' by Jean Lurçat for Atelier Jane Pérethon, Signed and labelled. Origination: 1950s, France. Condition: Very good. Tapestry has been professiona...

Discover the elegance of this mid-century French Aubusson style tapestry made with wool and cotton , by screen printing method by hand, featuring the exquisite design of the renowned 17th to 18th...

This incredible hand crafted Italian (Venetian ) 17th- 18th century Wall Hanging /Valance originated from a gorgeous Palazzo in Venice with i...

Mid Century Modern Colorful Tapestry, circa 1970 By unknown Artist In original condition, with minor wear consistent of age and use, preserv...

Embroidered tapestry with frame and double back iron for hanging on the wall. Early 20th century period.

Discover the elegance of modern French tapestry with the exquisite design titled Dusk « Crépuscule » by « Gemmanick ». This limited edition masterpiece, screen printed by hand in the...

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Nice vintage French screen printed tapestry by hand with beautiful design and beautiful colors. Discover a stunning mid-20th-century tapestry, m...

Located a stone's throw from the Eiffel Tower in Paris, we are a French family business specializing in the purchase, sale, expertise, cleaning, restoration and conservation of tapes...

An exceptional and very rare wall tapestry from the 1960s in amazing condition. This large and stunning wall tapestry in wool has been designed and signed on the back by the French a...

Nice mid century french mechanical tapestry with beautiful design of a 18th century aubusson tapestry with beautiful colors, woven with mechanical ...

Very beautiful and fine Aubusson tapestry with a nice design featuring two cows under the tree , with beautiful natural colours, with yellow, beige, brown and green, entirely and fin...