Aubusson or Tournai soappoint rug - Lot 49

Aubusson or Tournai soappoint rug Model attributed to Louis de La Haymade de Saint Ange (1780-1860) Empire period, circa 1811 6.48 x 3.94 m 21ft 2 x 12ft 11 Fleuriot de Langle, in 1954 in Connaissance des Arts, compared Saint Ange's art to that of a decorative gardener (today we would say a landscape gardener). When we look at this large carpet, it is indeed a well-designed garden that comes to mind. In the center, a flower bed on a round lawn, framed on either side by three small square beds clearly demarcated by laurel leaves. A flowerbed surrounds the carpet with a Grecian motif, which we might imagine to be made of boxwood. To return to a vocabulary more suited to the decorative arts, it seems that this large carpet was intended for a music salon where concerts were held, in keeping with the fashion of the time. The central rosette, adorned with a bowl of fruit and flowers, is surrounded by a garland of roses and daisies tied with blue ribbons. It stands out against a circle with a green background, which is divided into eight trapezoidal compartments bordered by other garland motifs. Each compartment contains a musical instrument: lyre, hornpipes, bagpipes, triangle and a tambourine with a grape motif placed on Bacchus' thyrse, a reminder that music is divine and that its origins go back a long way. This circle is set within a rectangle adorned with acanthus leaf motifs and small old-gold rosettes on all four corners. The three "parterres" framing the central section on either side each feature a floral motif set in an octagon with a white background, itself set against a green background decorated with palmettes on all four corners. The overall composition, with its harmonious colors, is very graceful and light for an Empire-period rug; it is made more severe and more in keeping with the style of the period by the elegant bronze border with Greek motifs mentioned above. Saint-Ange's taste for symmetry is striking in this rug; he was an architect by training, a pupil of Percier and Fontaine. He was appointed draftsman of the Mobilier Impérial in 1810, and continued to design carpets until the reign of Louis Philippe. He supplied designs to the workshops of the Savonnerie in Paris, those of Aubusson and the Manufacture Piat Lefebvre in Tournai (a city governed by France from 1794 to 1814). This carpet may have been knotted at Aubusson or at Piat Lefebvre in Tournai. The carpet was presented at the exhibition Tapis d'Empire, maquettes de la Collection Marmottan (Bibliothèque Marmottan, Boulogne, October 23, 2003 - January 31, 2004, it is reproduced on p. 84 of the catalog). Provenance : - French private collection