Carpet for the Grande Galerie in the Louvre

A central medallion, standing out against a white background, contains the heads of four Winds blowing trumpets that are connected by hunting horns tied with ribbons. The medallion is framed by a circle of butterflies. Four crowned cartouches containing the arms of France are supported by the wings of Fame and linked by garlands of flowers tied with ribbons. In the corners, large scrolls stand out against a black background. The carpet is bordered by an egg pattern frieze with fleurs-de-lis at the corners. This carpet, whose decoration symbolizes Air, was the central section of a larger carpet woven in the Dupont workshop and delivered on June 10, 1678. It was the fiftieth of the ninety-three carpets commissioned for the “Grande Galerie du Bord de l’Eau” and produced between 1670 and 1685. It was originally almost nine meters long; the ends, decorated with the figures of Aeolus and Juno woven in low relief in shades of blue, were cut off, probably in the eighteenth century. The carpet belonged to the collection of Charles Ephrussi.