3-000-292 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Carpet recently finished at the Manufacture Imperiale des Gobelins, Paris, 1860. Textile made at '...the well-known Parisian establishment which owes its name to a celebrated dynasty of manufacturers of that name whose founder flourished in the fifteenth century...the tapestries manufactured at the Gobelins...[owe their quality to] increased mechanical facilities, but especially to the improved knowledge of colours, upon which considerable light has been thrown by the eminent Professor Chevreul, who is at the head of what is termed the dyeing department of this famous establishment. Some idea of the resources at the disposition of the different artist-workmen employed upon recently-manufactured tapestries may be gleaned from the fact that the actual number of distinct shades of wool amounts to 12,960...Our Engraving represents one half of a carpet...The general design is imitated from a carpet in the Chancellerie of the Palace of Justice, executed during the reign of Henry IV. of France. In the centre, indicated by the shading...are the arms of the French Empire and the Imperial cipher. This beautifully-executed carpet is destined to ornament the cabinet de travail of his Majesty the Emperor in the Palace of the Tuileries'. From "Illustrated London News", 1860.