Nantes Canvas Quilt – Louis XIV And Madame De La Vallière – Petitpierre C., C. 1815

Circa 1815–1820
Nantes, France

Nantes-cloth quilt titled "Louis XIV and Madame de La Vallière" from the Favre Petitpierre & Cie Manufactory, dating from 1815–1820. Piece collected in Nantes. Cotton fabric printed with a copperplate design in violet (iron pyrolignite with madder dye). Bedspread with three crenellated edges, fully quilted with diamond-shaped stitching and lined with rustic unbleached hemp. Some slight color variations and minor mending. Original pieces with no subsequent alterations. Good overall structural condition. In the documentation (already sold), a photo of the piece’s label indicating “Manufacture Favre Petitpierre & Cie,” which operated in Nantes between 1802 and 1818. We also have two bed valances and a lambrequin from the same set, available for sale separately.

Dimensions: 120 cm x 175 cm and three side panels, each 33 cm high.

The duchess bed was the most common model in the 18th and 19th centuries. The inclusion of a headboard in a complete set is not surprising, since at least one whole piece of fabric was needed to make the bed (14 aunes in Nantes, or 16.63 square meters). This one bears the mark Favre Petitpierre & Cie in Nantes. Well-dyed. Mademoiselle de la Vallière. The scene, rendered in the intaglio style of a lithograph, depicts the love affair between King Louis XIV and Louise de la Baume, Duchess de la Vallière (1644–1710), who became his mistress in 1661. This was a popular theme in vogue during the years 1805–1820, corresponding to the “Troubadour” style, which was linked to the broader trend of royal romances. Empress Joséphine assembled a collection at Malmaison centered on the theme of knights, just as the Duchess of Berry, during the Restoration, was fascinated by Scottish legends drawn from the novels of Walter Scott. The treatment of the foliage pattern, which completely covers the fabric, is a typical development in Nantes fabrics after the Empire, thus moving away from the Jouy style. This fabric was likely engraved by Samuel Cholet (1786–1874), the chief designer at the Favre Petitpierre manufactory from 1820 onward, who specialized in genre scenes featuring leafy parterres and gigantic trees. Samuel Cholet was one of the few engravers to sign his plates.
1, page 15 of the catalog Nantes Canvases of the 18th and 19th Centuries, Jacqueline Jacqué, MISE 1978.
Page 17 of the catalog Nantes Canvases, 1760–1840, Xavier Petitcol, Nantes History Museum, 2008.
Similar references: Musée d’Impression sur étoffe, Mulhouse, MISE 976.184.1.A.
Reproduced from plate 75 of History of the Jouy Manufactory and Printed Fabric in the 18th Century by Henry Clouzot, 1928.