Antique Aubusson Verdure Tapestry, Large 18th C Handwoven French Wall Hanging, Forest Landscape Art

Details

Description

Antique 18th Century Aubusson Verdure Tapestry — Chateau Park with Roosters — 254 x 140 cm / 100 x 55 … Read more Antique 18th Century Aubusson Verdure Tapestry — Chateau Park with Roosters — 254 x 140 cm / 100 x 55 in

A tall verdure panel woven in the Aubusson–Felletin workshops of the Creuse, second half of the 18th century.

Aubusson and Felletin lay ten kilometres apart and wove to the same designs and standards; without a workshop mark, period verdures of this type are attributed to the region rather than to a single atelier.

Slender trees frame a chateau park: a cascading fountain, a domed pavilion with an arched door, terraced balustrades and steps climbing to a hilltop town under a pale rose-and-gold sky. In the foreground three game fowl — two cockerels facing off with a hen between them — stride across an open bank, edged with blue-green iris tufts and a white-flowered creeper.

THE COLOUR — PLEASE READ

Photo 16 shows the reverse, protected from light for 250 years: deep saturated greens and blues, the colours the panel was woven with. On the face, the yellow in those greens has gone, leaving the bank a soft olive-brown and the foliage in cool blues, sages and gold.

This is what natural dyes do over two and a half centuries, and the contrast between face and reverse is the single clearest indicator that a verdure is of the period rather than a modern copy. It is also the tonality reproductions try to imitate and never reach.

DETAILS

Size — approx. 254 x 140 cm / 100 x 55 in
Technique — handwoven
Origin — Aubusson or Felletin, Creuse, France
Date — 18th century
Subject — verdure landscape with chateau park, fountain, pavilion and game fowl
Unlined, with guard borders

CONDITION

Sold as a genuine 18th-century textile, with the wear that implies. Please read this section alongside photos , which are the condition record.

Fading to the face as described above
One small hole approx. 9 x 4 mm in the leaf at lower right ( last photo)
Scattered slits, thin places, light wear to the guard band, old repairs visible on the reverse

Happy to send additional images of any area — just ask.

HANGING & STYLING

A statement piece for a stairwell, entrance hall, dining room, panelled study, or above a sofa — or, as it was intended, on the pier between two windows. Suits French country, chateau, Belgian, English manor-house and dark-academia interiors.

For hanging I'd recommend a Velcro strip sewn to a webbing tape along the top edge, which distributes the weight evenly. Keep it out of direct sunlight to protect the colour.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Photo 1 is a styled visualization showing scale and setting — it is not a photograph of the piece installed. Every other image is the actual tapestry. See less