‘Audience with the Emperor’, A Louis XIV tapestry, from the series The Story of the Emperor of China, French, Beauvais Manufactory woven late 17th/early 18th century, after designs of 1685-1690 by Jean-Baptiste Monnoyer (1636-1699), Guy Vernansal (1648-1729) and Jean Baptiste Belin de Fontenay (1653-1715

AN AUDIENCE WITH THE EMPEROR

‘Audience with the Emperor’, A Louis XIV tapestry, from the series The Story of the Emperor of China, French, Beauvais Manufactory

woven late 17th/early 18th century, after designs of 1685-1690 by Jean-Baptiste Monnoyer (1636-1699), Guy Vernansal (1648-1729) and Jean Baptiste Belin de Fontenay (1653-1715

within a narrow four-sided gold and yellow repeat pattern acanthus leaf clasp acanthus leaf pattern border, with a later four-sided narrow banded yellow and blue outer selvedge, woven with a scene of the emperor holding an audience in the open air, on a marble stepped terrace, sheltered by an elegant tall vaulted and canopied pavilion, supported by delicate golden columns with twisted winged snake mounts, the top decorated with feathered plumes, small supports with further winged dragons, with resting parrots and flying small birds above, pendant swags of flowers decorate the front of the pavilion, the central figure of the emperor, with long moustache, dressed in blue and gold silk robes, with a sash, feathered turban and large pearl long necklace, and a jewelled encased dagger, seated on a tasselled velvet cushion on top of a European interpretation of a Sino/Turkish-inspired enormous carpet, with fringed edges, carefully folded over the stepped dais, with a hanging draped textile suspended from the centre of the pavilion enclosing the elaborate feather-topped, dragon-, monster- and sphinx-decorated throne back behind the emperor, the entablature with calligraphy that is entirely fanciful, behind the throne there is a profile depiction of an African elephant with attendant and a standing soldier, all there to guard the emperor, and further soldiers are seen at the back of the terrace, in the foreground the empress, in rather classical dress, is depicted seated in a chariot holding a fan, with a female attendant pushing her and a male attendant holding aloft a parasol, the two attendants pulling the chariot are kneeling down (and in some versions their pose is the same, but they are on the terrace and are rolling up the carpet so as to get the empress closer to the emperor), there are four male figures in front of a bruhl parfum, kneeling and bowing deeply before the emperor, off to the right on the terrace is a bowl and group of exotic fruit including bananas, pineapples, melons, cherries and pomegranates, a table behind is loaded with a lacquer tray, and tea cups, a bronze pot, and other blue and white decorated lidded containers, there is a heron, strange cat like creature and a peacock, in the background there is a walled city, tall Chinese pagodas on the horizon, and exotic plants and palm trees

Approximately: 358cm high, 513cm wide; 11ft. 7in., 16ft. 8in.