Vintage Savonnerie Weave Rug, Hand Knotted, Circa 1950's

Design: Center Medalion

History of Savonnerie Rugs

The Savonnerie got it's start when Henri IV (King of France from 1589 to 1610) became alarmed by how rapidly the national treasury was being depleted by the importation of Oriental rugs and luxury textiles from the east to satisfy the growing appetite for these goods among his nobles who were keen to emulate the extravagant furnishings of the royal palaces. Henri decided to stop the drain of French silver by setting up the manufacture of Oriental Carpets within France and by reviving the manufacture of the French indigenous luxury products the making of which had declined during the civil strife caused by the Wars of Religion.

Henri IV asked Pierre DuPont, who had traveled in the Levant, to start the manufacture of carpets and provided him with workshop space within the Louvre palace itself.

In 1627 Louis XIII (King of France from 1610 to 1643) granted DuPont and his former apprentice Simon Lourdet an eighteen year monopoly for making carpets. DuPont and Lourdet eventually quarreled and Lourdet set up a separate carpet workshop in a disused soap factory (French savon) and the rugs made there became known as Savonnerie rugs.

These early Savonnerie carpets were made of wool, with small amounts of silk in details and are made in the Ghiordes knot (also known as the Turkish knot) and have about ninety knots per square inch. In the beginning they made copies of Persian rugs, but eventually a distinctive French style emerged featuring dense flowers and leafy vines inspired by patterns found in the friezes of classical Roman buildings as well as pictorial or armorial framed medallions all enclosed within multiple borders. The background colors were deep blue, black and deep brown. The medallions and borders could have cream backgrounds.

The Savonnerie manufactory was the most prestigious European manufactory of knotted-pile carpets, enjoying its greatest period c. 1650–1685; the cachet of its name is casually applied to many knotted-pile carpets made at other centers. The manufactory had its immediate origins in a carpet manufactory established in a former soap factory (French savon) on the Quai de Chaillot downstream of Paris in 1615 by Pierre DuPont, who was returning from the Levant.

Under a patent (privilège) of eighteen years, a monopoly was granted by Louis XIII in 1627 to DuPont and his former apprentice Simon Lourdet, makers of carpets façon de Turquie ("in the manner of Turkey"). Until 1768, the products of the manufactory remained exclusively the property of the Crown, and Savonnerie carpets were among the grandest of French diplomatic gifts.[a]

The carpets were made of wool with some silk in the small details, knotted using the Ghiordes knot, at about ninety knots to the square inch. Some early carpets broadly imitate Persian models, but the Savonnerie style soon settled into more purely French designs, pictorial or armorial framed medallions, densely massed flowers in bouquets or leafy rinceauxagainst deep blue, black or deep brown grounds, within multiple borders


Condition:
Alterations: Original Condition Unaltered
Imperfections: Some Imperfections
Condition Notes: Good Condition

Dimensions:
Height: 0.01 in.
Width: 120 in.
Depth: 168 in.

Category: Rugs
Materials: Wool

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Original Condition Unaltered; Some Imperfections; Good Condition