Tapestry from the Manufacture Royale de Beauvais - Lot 154

Tapestry from the Manufacture Royale de Beauvais The port of Palermo Wool and silk, low heddle weave. Late 17th / early 18th century (probably between 1685 and 1723). H. 269 cm L. 453 cm Les Ports de Mer tapestry, woven under the direction of the academy of Philippe de Behagle (1641-1705) and his successor Noël Antoine Mérou (1695-1730) from designs by Jan van den Kerchove and Adrien Campion (painter at the St Luc academy). This tapestry corresponds to one of the panels in the first series designed for the Swedish court in 1695, and subsequently revived between 1722 and 1733 under the direction of Noël Antoine Merou. Good condition, tapestry with its original dimensions (folded parts at the top and on both sides), maintenance restorations, natural oxidation in the borders and restorations in the four corners of the borders. Tapestry lined. Iconographic analysis: The first panel is richly decorated with exotic birds and a variety of fowl against a backdrop of wooded greenery and shells. Louis XIV owned menageries on the site of the present-day Lanterne residence (deconstructed in the early 20th century, to be sold to an American), including one for wild animals and one for birds, the precursors of modern zoos, which were undoubtedly a source of inspiration for this tapestry. Decorated in the background with ships and fortified towns, the tapestry refers to the port of Palermo and the naval battle of Palermo, which took place not far from this port. The ninth naval battle of the Dutch War, and the fifth fought in the Mediterranean during this conflict, took place on June 2, 1676 in the port of Palermo, on the coast of Sicily. It pitted a French fleet, commanded by the Duc de Vivonne, against a combined Spanish-Dutch fleet, shaken by the defeats at Stromboli and Agosta and the death of its main leader, Michel de Ruyter. It ends with a new victory for the French fleet, which is now master of the western Mediterranean until the War of the Spanish Succession. This tapestry was part of the six-piece Seaports hanging, created in 1695 from cartoons by Joseph Van Kerchove and Adrien Campion for the Royal Court of Sweden in 1695. It is now in Burnstop. Another hanging produced with the arms of the Chevalier d'Allonne, comprising four pieces, is on display at Château de Merlemont. It is said to have been a gift from Louis XIV to the chevalier d'Allonne, ship's captain (1668-1707), in memory of his exploits. - Another was acquired by Louis XIV in 1696 for the Château de Marly. And yet another tapestry was bought by Swedish private individuals, the Countess and Count Piper. These tapestries were commissioned by the Piper family for their castles at Bellinga and Bjönstorp. Reworked many times in the following decades, notably between 1722 and 1733 by the new director of the manufactory, Noël-Antoine Mérou, it continues the genre of the coastal landscape populated by shells, birds and fish, while at the same time renewing it. According to Jules BADIN (1909), there were two series in 1723 and 1732: one of six panels (1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6) in 1723, and the other incorporating four of the original motifs (1, 2, 4 and 6). The 1723 inventory mentions "12 pieces of the Ports de mer design"; the inventory of October 15, 1732 mentions "En magazin à Leipsick: Une tenture de Ports de Mer, en six pièces, de 19 aunes ¼ de cours sur 2 aunes ½ de haut" for a value of "4,500" livres. The popularity of the series demanded new cartons, undertaken by Simon III du Pape (Le Pape), reproducing the Kerchove and Campion motifs. Two types of borders are known: one with magnificent maritime motifs of shells and coral, the other with scrolls, flowers, lyres and stylized shells, as well as variations on the motif. Founded in 1664 by Louis XIV on the road to Flanders, the Manufacture Nationale de Beauvais produces low-warp tapestries on horizontal looms. Our tapestry was made under the direction of Philippe Béhagle. Philippe Béhagle, born in Oudenaarde on July 27, 1641 and died in Beauvais on July 23, 1705, was the king's tapestry merchant and director of the Manufacture royale de tapisserie de Beauvais. Comparable tapestries from the 1695 to 1737 series: Verdure au vautour et flamant rose, from a set of hangings of birds from the Royal Menagerie, Manufacture de Beauvais, under the direction of Philippe Behagle, 1684-1705, Collection Marcel Benoit, Lausanne. Seaport with birds on a harbor background and ships, circa 1695-1737, Burrell Collection, Glasgow (Inv. 47.45) Provenance: Sotheby's, London, May 28, 1971, lot 15.