Chinoiserie scenes; brocaded and weft-patterned satin, Netherlands, 1735-45

Selvedge-to-selvedge width of blue brocaded silk satin, with chinoiserie design, comprising three scenes which run the length of the fabric. The first shows a woman being rowed by a man in a boat, while an attendant holds a parasol over her head; the second displays a circus rider standing on the back of a dog-like beast which is careering towards a trellised arcade, under which crouches a man; the third is composed of an arbor beneath which sits a woman before whom a fat man dances while two pipers play music. This panel is designed to fit alongside another panel; the green arcade on the left of the second scene fits alongside the grey arcade at the right of the third scene, the front part of the bird on the left side of the first scene, and the prow of the ship, are found on the right side of the second scene.

Given by H.M. Queen Mary

Given to the Museum by H.M. Queen Mary in 1936. According to an extract from a letter from the Queen: 'It is part of some hanging from my Hungarian Grandmother's house in Transylvania, St Georgy, and belonged to my father - she was née Countess Claudine Rhéder. The rest of the silk is on the walls of a small room I arranged in Buckingham Palace.' (RP 5792/1936; Nominal file: MA/1/1949/18)

Examples of this design exist in two colourways: with this light grey-blue ground (V&A; Archangelskoye Palace, near Moscow); with a red ground (Abegg-Stiftung, Switzerland; Schloss Ludwigslust in northern Germany; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston).

According to the V&A Accession Register in 1936, the style of drawing and the weaving technique suggest it was made in France, probably Lyons, the premier centre of silk weaving at the time as it is reminiscent of François Boucher's designs. Subsequent research on the piece in the collection of the Abegg-Stiftung by Alain Gruber in the early 1980s is more precise "Pattern composed of the following elements taken from the famous designs by François Boucher for the tapestry weavers of Beauvais about 1742. The set was engraved by P.A. Aveline. The figures in the trellises and pavilions defote themselves to the joys of hunting, fishing, sailing and dancing". He dates the silk to 1742-5 and suggests France as the source. He notes that the silk in the Abegg-Stiftung collections comes from a château in Piedmont (satin liseré et broché, liage repris; H. 205 cm, width 78.8 cm; pattern repeat 416 cm) and that there is a similar piece in the aforementioned palace, near Moscow. This palace was is built in a neoclassical style by the French architect Jacob Guerne (1748-97), the main building dating to 1790. It belonged to the Goltisyn family between 1703 and 1810.
Bibl. Alain Gruber, Chinoiserie. L'Influence de la Chine sur les arts en Europe XVIIe-XIXe siècle. Exh. cat., Abegg-Stiftung Bern in Riggisberg, 1984, pp. 46, 48-9.

MFA Boston describes its piece as "Fragment of a wall covering, possibly Dutch, mid-18th century". It was acquired in Europe by Adolph Loewi, Los Angeles and sold to the MFA for $950 (Accession Date: June 14, 1951). Two widths: 101 x 78.7 cm and 110.5 x 77.5 cm. http://www.mfa.org/collections/object/fragment-of-a-wall-covering-74587

Current thinking (2018) suggests that it may indeed be Dutch because of the width of the silk, which was typical of production there, and also because of the treatment of the dark areas of the design.

T.73-1936