SAVONNERIE
Those who hold by the letter, leave out the velvety product of La
Savonnerie from the aristocratic society of hangings woven in the
classic stitch of the Gobelins. They have reason. Yet, because the
weave is one we often see in galleries, also on furniture both old and
new, it is as well not to ignore its productions in lofty silence.
Besides, it is rather interesting, this little branch of an exotic
industry that tried to run along beside the greater and more artistic.
It never has tried to be much higher than a man's feet, has been
content for the most part to soften and brighten floors that before
its coming were left in the cold bareness of tile or parquet. It crept
up to the backs and seats of chairs, and into panelled screens a
little later on, but never has it had much vogue on the walls.
When we go back to its beginnings we come flat against the Far East,
as is usual. The history of the fabric which is woven with a pile like
that of heavy wool velvet, and which is called Savonnerie, runs
parallel to the long story of tapestry proper, but to make its scant
details one short concrete chronicle it is best to put them all
together.
From the East, then, came the idea of weaving in that style of which
only the people of the East were masters. Oriental rugs as such were
not attempted in either colour or design, but one of the rug stitches
was copied.
We have to run back to the time of Henri IV, a pleasing time to turn
to with its demonstration of how much a powerful king loved the
welfare of his people. When he interested himself in tapestry, one of
the three important existing factories was stationed in the Louvre.
This was primarily for the hangings properly called tapestry, but in
the same place were looms for the production of work "after the
fashion of Turkey." Sometimes it was called work of "long wool"
(_longue laine_) and sometimes also "_a la facon de Perse, ou du
Levant_," as well as "of the fashion of Turkey,"--all names giving
credit to the East from whence the stitch came by means of crusades,
invasions and other storied movements of the people of a dim past.
How long ago this stitch came, is as uncertain as most things in the
Middle Ages. We know how persistently the cultivated venturesome East
overflowed Eastern Europe, and how religious Europe thrust itself into
the East, and on these broad bases we plant our imaginings.
Away back in Burgundian times there are traces of the use of this
velvet stitch. Tapestries of Germany also woven in the Fifteenth
Century, use this stitch to heighten the effect of details.
But the formation of an actual industry properly set down in history
and dignified by the name of its directors, comes in the very first
years of the Seventeenth Century when Henri IV of France was living up
to his high ideals.
Pierre Dupont is the name to remember in this connexion. He is styled
the inventor of the velvet pile in tapestry, but it were better to
call him the adaptor. The name of Savonnerie came from the building in
which the first looms were set up, an old soap factory, and thus the
velvet pile bears the misnomer of the Savonnerie.
Pierre Dupont (whose book "La Stromaturgie" might be consulted by the
book-lover) was one of the enthusiasts included by Henri IV along with
the best high-and low-warp masters of France at that time. Being
placed under royal patronage, the Savonnerie style of weaving acquired
a dignity which it has ever had trouble in retaining for the simple
reason that the legitimate place for its products seems to be the
floor.
The Gobelins factory finally absorbed the Savonnerie, but that was
after it had been established in the Louvre. Pierre Dupont who was
director of tapestry works under Henri IV even goes so far as to vaunt
the works of French production over those of "La Turquie." The taste
of the day was doubtless far better pleased with the French colour and
drawing than with the designs of the East.
At any rate, this pretty wool velvet found such favour with kings that
even Louis XIV encouraged its continuance, gathering it under the roof
of the all-embracing Gobelins.
A large royal order embraced ninety-two pieces, intended to cover the
Grand Galerie of the Louvre. Many of these pieces are preserved to-day
and are conserved by the State.
If Savonnerie has never produced much that is noteworthy in the line
of art, at least it has given us many pretty bits of an endearing
softness, bits which cover a chair or panel a screen, to the delight
of both eye and touch. The softness of the weave makes it especially
appropriate to furniture of the age of luxurious interiors which is
represented by the styles of Louis XV and Louis XVI.
Portraits in this style of weave were executed at a time when
portraits were considered improved by translation into wool, but
except as curiosities they are scarcely successful. An example hangs
in the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art. (Plate facing page 162.)
In the Gobelins factory of to-day are four looms for the manufacture
of Savonnerie.
[Illustration: SAVONNERIE. PORTRAIT SUPPOSABLY OF LOUIS XV
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York]
[Illustration: VULCAN AND VENUS SERIES. MORTLAKE
Collection of Philip Hiss, Esq., New York]