Authentic 19th Century French Aubusson Red Handmade Wool Rug BB6755 18'0" × 18'7" $100,000

A mid 19th century French Aubusson rug of exceptional vitality, having a midnight blue field with gold architectural vinery forming a reciprocal red, blue and beige central medallions within a broad midnight blue vinery border.

The Savonnerie 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 carpetsspecifically 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.