La Foire

Part of a series of nine tapestries known as The Story of the Emperor, this exceptional tapestry was woven with wool and silk threads by master weavers at Aubusson, one of France’s finest tapestry workshops. Designed by Jean-Joseph Dumons after sketches by the celebrated 18th-century French artist François Boucher, La Foire is a superb example of the fashionable chinoiserie scenes the workshop produced for aristocratic patrons. The tapestry illustrates an imagined Chinese market with merchants selling exotic birds to an elegant royal consort within a lush landscape of garden pavilions and tropical trees, flowers and plants.