Antique French Aubusson Red Botanic Handmade Wool Rug

A mid 19th century French Aubusson Rugs, the cinnamon field with a central pale beige floral wreath roundel and steel blue central rosette within an unusual beige abstract vine and floral border. Many weavers who settled in France were Huguenots who had fled Spain during the Inquisition in the early sixteenth century. By issuing the edict of Nantes, Henry IV granted all non-Catholics freedom of worship, thereby protecting the oldest European carpet weavers in Aubusson. Aubusson rugs weavers became the finest craftsmen in the world. Louis XIV's influential Prime Minister Colbert established the long and hard apprenticeship necessary to obtain the title "Master of Tapestry" . Even today, the center in Aubusson, under control of the French Ministry of Arts, is busily producing rugs and rugs of the most exquisite quality. Antique Savonnerie and Aubusson rugs and antique oriental rugs are considered to be among the finest examples of carpet production undertaken in Europe over the past 350 years.