AN EMPIRE SAVONNERIE CARPET

The Savonnerie manufactory was founded in France on January 4, 1608 by Henri IV, where production flourished for nearly two centuries before coming to a nearly complete halt during the French Revolution: the revolutionaries thought of carpets, such as those woven at the Savonnerie workshops, as the luxurious trappings of a decadent and decaying society. Nonetheless, the Directoire used existing carpets, especially those commissioned by Louis XIV, for themselves and to repay debts incurred by the Revolution, after duly cutting out royal emblems such as crowns and fleurs-de-lis. It was Napoleon who revitalised the carpet industry, as the decree of 28 Florail XII (1803) allowed him to use and re-decorate the royal palaces (see Elisabeth Floret, Great Carpets of the World, 1996, p.253), in turn aiding the growth of a new economy and society in France. The emperor commissioned carpets in the grand interior style that echoed the archaeological version of the neoclassical promoted by C. Percier and P. Fontaine in their guide Recueil de decorations intrieures (1801).

The style of drawing and many of the motifs in the present carpet, such as the scrolls around the rosettes and the wave border, recall the work of Jacques-Louis de la Hamayde de Saint-Ange-Desmaison, known as Saint-Ange (1780-1860). Saint-Ange was probably the most popular and influential carpet designer during the late Empire and Restauration period. After studying with the French designers Percier and Fontaine, he eventually became the primary designer for the Mobilier Imperial, designing not only carpets but even porcelain for Sèvres. The designs of Saint-Ange were commonly emulated by other designers and manufacturers, including Aubusson, Sallandrouze and Beauvais. A similarly designed carpet by Saint-Ange is in the Collection Mobilier National, Paris (Madeleine Jarry, The Carpets of the Manufacture De La Savonnerie, Leigh-on-Sea, 1966, fig.78). For watercolours of carpet designs by Saint-Ange with similar motifs including stars, swans and wave borders see E. Floret, 'Le renouveau du tapis francais sous l'Empire' in Les Tapis D'Empire, Norma Editions, Paris, 2003.