Vintage European Silk Table Carpet BB4871 7'3" × 8'9" $80,000

Early 19th Century European Carpet. Polychrome Silk Plush with Linen Backing. Provenance gift Mrs Kermit Roosevelt daughter in law of Teddy Roosevelt.

The Savonnerie aubusson carpet factory, located on the site of the present Musee d’Art Moderne, inherited its name from the soap making factory it took over at the behest of Louis XIII. From 1660 until 1743 Savonnerie was a manufacture royale, carrying out commissions for French Aubusson rugs and carpets specifically designed for the Royal Palaces. In the 1770s, the tapestry looms at Aubusson in the Creuze Valley near Limoges were converted to produce flat-woven antique oriental rugs and carpets under royal warrant. No one knows precisely when European rugs weaving began in this area, but it is certain that tapestries were first woven there long before the Gothic era.