A PAIR OF SILK LOUIS XVI ENTRE-FENÊTRES DEPICTING SCENES FROM AESOP'S FABLES

June 9 2009, 4:03pm

The present tapestries each illustrate a scene from one of the well-known moral allegories known as Aesop's fables. One shows the ending of “The Fox and the Stork,” in which the stork repays her friend in kind for his poor hosting of the dinner they shared the day before. The second tapestry shows the story of “The Wolf and the Crane.” Written versions of Aesop's fables date from the 3rd century AD, and have been handed down over the centuries as cautionary morality stories. One of earliest representations of Aesop's fables on textiles is found in the Bayeux tapestry, a 12th century tapestry depicting the Norman invasion of England which is bordered by images from Aesop's tale “The Fox and the Crow.” Between 1729 and 1735, Jean-Baptiste Oudry produced a series of drawings for Beauvais tapestry manufacture based on Jean de la Fontaine's version of the fables. They were woven over a dozen times by Beauvais and subsequently picked up by Aubusson.