Fine Antique Savonnerie Hand Knotted Wool Carpet

A late 19th century antique French Savonnerie rug, the blue field with floral sprays framing an overblown ivory roundel with red leafy branches and curvilinear motifs within a ivory and blue guard borders with lush architectural leafy vinery and a more restrained architectural 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, the re by protecting the carpet weavers in Aubusson. Aubusson 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 European carpets and rugs of the most exquisite quality. Antique Savonnerie and Aubusson and carpets are considered to be among the finest examples of carpet production undertaken in Europe over the past 350 years.