Remise 25\% jusqu'au 30.11 - Panneau De Tapisserie Aubusson En Laine Et Soie - France - XIXème

25% discount to be applied until 30.11 - New price: 1725 €.

Tapestry from the Manufacture de Braquenié.
Beautiful greenery with rich vegetation.
On the right, birds, animals and castle in perspective.

Good condition despite some wear
Aubusson - 19th century

Dimensions: 250 x 290 cm

The Braquenié company, originally a tapestry merchant, produced tapestries for almost a century and a half.
The origins of the Braquenié factory go back to Pierre-Jean Demy, a linen merchant established in Paris in the late 18th century.
In 1840, the Demy-Doineau firm bought out the "Paris" factory in Aubusson, whose extensive collection of antique documents and cartoons included works from the studio of animal painter Jean-Baptiste Oudry.

In 1842, the company's name was changed to "Demy-Doineau et Braquenié, Manufacture Royale de Tapis et de Tapisseries".
In 1843, it acquired a large number of printing plates and working documents, enabling it to expand its range of models. In 1844, Demy-Doineau et Braquenié won two gold medals for its carpet and tapestry exhibits at the Exposition Universelle in Paris, confirming the company's growing success.
Exhibition after exhibition was crowned with prizes, and the company supplied the Emperor's household and furnished the national palaces (Tuileries, Saint-Cloud). In 1858, it was awarded the gold medal of the Society for Industrial Progress. In the same year, the parent company changed its name once again to Braquenié Frères.

In 1859, the desire to found a large-scale establishment in Aubusson took shape. Until then, the Braquenié brothers had only a simple workshop here: cartons were created in Paris for their customers - their custom weaving being subcontracted to numerous Aubusson craftsmen.

On September 9, 1859, they bought a plot of land already occupied by a carpet factory and a dye works. They also bought an eight-meter-long loom and a dyeing boiler. Plans for a new factory were drawn up on November 8, 1859, and construction began on August 26, 1860.
Postcards show what the Braquenié factory looked like at the end of the 19th century.

When construction was completed in 1862, Alexandre Braquenié left the management of the Paris establishment to his brother and moved to Aubusson.
He decided to revive the tradition of needlepoint tapestries, known as point tapestries, for rugs, bedspreads, mantling and seats. This activity, mainly carried out by women, provided work for many women workers in the Creuse region.
At the height of their success, Braquenié Frères supplied the entire world's high society: the Marquise de Païva commissioned ten armchairs, a large rug and velvety stair carpets for her hotel on the Champs-Élysées. The company's reputation soon spread beyond France to a wealthy clientele in Spain, Italy, Mexico and, above all, Russia. To these outlets were added official commissions (Palais du Luxembourg, choir of Notre-Dame de Paris, decoration of the Emperor's carriage in 1853 and a carriage for the Compagnie des Chemins de Fer de Paris à Lyon et à la Méditerranée in 1868).
Orders continued to pour in from all over Europe and even the United States: in 1873, Theodore Roosevelt ordered a velvety carpet from Braquenié.

On June 28, 1875, Braquenié was awarded the title of Manufacture Royale by King Leopold II. The company was renamed "Braquenié et Cie". The quality of products woven in Aubusson and Mechelen is definitively recognized, and Braquenié enters the legend.

In 1881, Braquenié, along with the other major tapestry manufacturers in Aubusson, took part in the creation of the School of Decorative Arts, offering the town "a loom, wools and various accessories, as well as premises for the installation of a professional school".
Charles-Henri Braquenié was also one of the founding members of the society behind the creation of the Aubusson Museum, in the ruins of the Chapitre, in 1885.

The First World War dealt a blow to the Braquenié company: production suffered from the absence of designers, customers and workers.

On October 12, 1926, a fire ravaged the main wing of the factory, located at the back of the courtyard. Destroyed right down to the first floor, it was rebuilt in 1927 on this first, preserved level. But the damage was incalculable and the company, struggling to regain its former position, was hit hard by the stock market crash of 1929. The economic crisis forced the company to lay off more than a hundred workers, despite winning prestigious orders (carpets after Ruhlmann for the Normandie liner in 1935).

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