. . . . "0.6818"^^ . . . . "0.8228"^^ . . . "0.8378"^^ . . . . "1851~ / 1900~, Beauvais" . . . . . . "1978.404.13a\u2013c" . . . "Tapestry-woven upholstery for two settees and twelve armchairs was commissioned at the same time as the wall hangings depicting the Four Continents (1978.404.1\u2013.4).\u00B9 The Four Continents was one of two suites\u30FBeach including four wall tapestries and coordinating seating furniture\u30FBthat were ordered from Beauvais in 1786; the subject of the other suite was to be a series illustrating the arts, sciences, agriculture, and commerce. An earlier suite of tapestry furniture covers depicting the continents was produced at the Royal Manufactory of Gobelins in 1748, and the arrangement of the motifs in Le Barbier\u2019s covers is similar: personifications of the continents are set against a landscape on the seat backs, and native animals populate the seat covers.\u00B2 This subject in tapestry aligns with the contemporary popularity of the Four Continents in eighteenth-century European art: everything from porcelain table decorations and tablewares to dinner napkins and ceiling frescoes incorporated personifications of the continents (see MMA 64.101.1347, 1348). The settee showing America and Europe emphasizes the close relationship between France and the new United States, which France promoted so forcefully in the tapestry depicting America. The figure of France occupies the center of the sofa back, and America is seated off to the left. In this composition, France is \u2018introducing the new nation to Europe across Neptune\u2019s domain, the Atlantic; France\u2019s discarded armor lies at her feet, as the war has been won, and Victory crowns her.\u2019\u00B3 The armchairs repeat the female personifications of each continent, attended by male figures and some of the fauna typically associated with each. There are three variations on each of the four continents, and, although they are all slightly different, the iconographic program is consistent. It appears that this upholstery was not affixed to furniture frames until sometime after 1852, decades after its production.\u2074 Usually, a client commissioned or purchased high-quality tapestry upholstery before furniture frames were made to accommodate the weavings. This type of upholstery was quite popular in the late eighteenth century, and the Beauvais manufactory made many such sets.\u2075 However, the combination of matching wall hangings and seating furniture was more unusual, and clearly more expensive. A suite of furnishings would have been reserved for a formal room, such as a salon or drawing room. [Melinda Watt, adapted from Interwoven Globe, The Worldwide Textile Trade, 1500-1800/ edited by Amelia Peck; New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art; New Haven: distributed by Yale University Press, 2013]1. See Standen, European Post-Medieval Tapestries, vol. 2, pp. 572\u201373. 2. Ibid., p. 573; the Gobelins tapestry upholstery depicted the continents as merchants on the sofa backs. Some of Le Barbier\u2019s designs for the upholstery survive; none of the cartoons for the wall tapestries exist today. See ibid., pp. 572, 588\u2013603, figs. 67\u201374, all in the Mobilier National, Paris. 3. Ibid., p. 591. 4. Ibid., p. 573, from the sale listing of May 18, 1852, hotel of the duc de Richlieu; no furniture frames were mentioned, nor was the ownership indicated. 5. Kisluk-Grosheide, \u2018Peregrinations of a Lit \u00E0 la Duchesse en Imp\u00E9riale by George Jacob,\u2019 p. 144, and personal communication."@en . "Tapestry-woven upholstery for two settees and twelve armchairs was commissioned at the same time as the wall hangings depicting the Four Continents (1978.404.1\u2013.4).\u00B9 The Four Continents was one of two suites\u30FBeach including four wall tapestries and coordinating seating furniture\u30FBthat were ordered from Beauvais in 1786; the subject of the other suite was to be a series illustrating the arts, sciences, agriculture, and commerce. An earlier suite of tapestry furniture covers depicting the continents was produced at the Royal Manufactory of Gobelins in 1748, and the arrangement of the motifs in Le Barbier\u2019s covers is similar: personifications of the continents are set against a landscape on the seat backs, and native animals populate the seat covers.\u00B2 This subject in tapestry aligns with the contemporary popularity of the Four Continents in eighteenth-century European art: everything from porcelain table decorations and tablewares to dinner napkins and ceiling frescoes incorporated personifications of the continents (see MMA 64.101.1347, 1348). The settee showing America and Europe emphasizes the close relationship between France and the new United States, which France promoted so forcefully in the tapestry depicting America. The figure of France occupies the center of the sofa back, and America is seated off to the left. In this composition, France is \u2018introducing the new nation to Europe across Neptune\u2019s domain, the Atlantic; France\u2019s discarded armor lies at her feet, as the war has been won, and Victory crowns her.\u2019\u00B3 The armchairs repeat the female personifications of each continent, attended by male figures and some of the fauna typically associated with each. There are three variations on each of the four continents, and, although they are all slightly different, the iconographic program is consistent. It appears that this upholstery was not affixed to furniture frames until sometime after 1852, decades after its production.\u2074 Usually, a client commissioned or purchased high-quality tapestry upholstery before furniture frames were made to accommodate the weavings. This type of upholstery was quite popular in the late eighteenth century, and the Beauvais manufactory made many such sets.\u2075 However, the combination of matching wall hangings and seating furniture was more unusual, and clearly more expensive. A suite of furnishings would have been reserved for a formal room, such as a salon or drawing room. [Melinda Watt, adapted from Interwoven Globe, The Worldwide Textile Trade, 1500-1800/ edited by Amelia Peck; New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art; New Haven: distributed by Yale University Press, 2013]1. See Standen, European Post-Medieval Tapestries, vol. 2, pp. 572\u201373. 2. Ibid., p. 573; the Gobelins tapestry upholstery depicted the continents as merchants on the sofa backs. Some of Le Barbier\u2019s designs for the upholstery survive; none of the cartoons for the wall tapestries exist today. See ibid., pp. 572, 588\u2013603, figs. 67\u201374, all in the Mobilier National, Paris. 3. Ibid., p. 591. 4. Ibid., p. 573, from the sale listing of May 18, 1852, hotel of the duc de Richlieu; no furniture frames were mentioned, nor was the ownership indicated. 5. Kisluk-Grosheide, \u2018Peregrinations of a Lit \u00E0 la Duchesse en Imp\u00E9riale by George Jacob,\u2019 p. 144, and personal communication."@en . . . "1851~ / 1900~, Beauvais" .