Woven by skilled textile craftsmen exclusively for the Getty, this tapestry is a reproduction of one of the magnificent French tapestries in the Museum's collection. Each piece is unique, reflecting the variations in the natural fibers and complexity of weaving miles of cotton into a single tapestry.
- 100% natural cotton tapestry reproduction - 39.5 inches x 52.5 inches - Spot clean or dry clean as necessary - Made in the USA - Item #: TAPPORT
Colorful and glittering tapestries, handwoven after designs by the most renowed artists, were the ultimate expression of status, power, taste, and wealth. As patron, heir, and collector, Louis XIV (reigned 1643 - 1715) vastly augmented the prestigious French royal collection of tapestries with monumental hangings meant to embody and proclaim his magnificence. Exemplifying the ancient tradition in which heraldic emblems proclaimed identity, the late seventeenth/early eighteenth-century tapestry that inspired this reproduction carries the coat of arms of the king of France and Navarre. The realm of Navarre (in the northern Pyrenees) was united with France since the Bourbon rule of Henri IV (king of Navarre 1572 - 1610 and king of France 1589 - 1610) until the dissolution of the French monarchy in 1792 and, afterward, during the Bourbon restoration 1814/15 - 30. Le Brun conceived this armorial hanging for Louis XIV, the grandson of Henri IV, as a portiere to be draped across an interior doorway in a royal residence. Its imagery represents good government and the severed snake, beneath the wheels of the chariot, a symbol of vice and rebellion. Woven into the ribbon entwined with the balance scales in the pictorial field is: NEC / PLVRIBVS / IMPAR (Not Unequal to many [tasks]).
Original Object Information: Tapestry, Portiere of the Chariot of Triumph French (Gobelins Manufactory), 1699–1703 or 1715–1717 After a design by Charles Le Brun (French, 1619–1690) Wool and silk 357.5 × 277.8 cm (140 ¾ × 109 ³/8 in.)
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