About This Artwork

After a design by Guy-Louis Vernansal (1648–1729) and others
Woven at the Manufacture Royale de Beauvais under the direction of Pierre and Etienne Filleul (codirectors, 1711–22)
France, Beauvais

The Emperor Sailing, from The Story of the Emperor of China, 1716/22

Wool, silk, and silvered- and-gilt-metal-strip-wrapped silk, slit and double interlocking tapestry weave with some areas of 2:2 plain interlacings of silvered-and-gilt-metal wefts
385.8 x 355 cm (151 3/4 x 139 3/4 in.)
Mr. and Mrs. Charles H. Worcester Fund, 2007.22

The Emperor Sailing originally formed part of a suite called The Story of the Emperor of China, which portrayed scenes from the lives of the Manchu Qing dynasty Shunzhi emperor (r. 1644–61) and his son, the Kangxi emperor (r. 1661–1722), who were contemporaries of Louis XIV of France (r. 1643–1715). The series was first produced in the late 17th century in response to the French court’s growing mania for all things Asian. This tapestry shows the elder emperor seated in a ceremonial dragon boat as it pulls into a river from a quay. Members of the imperial family and their attendants watch the launch from an arcaded trellis, in close proximity to a crane and a tortoise that symbolize their well-wishes to the emperor. A walled city, with a towering multistoried pagoda, is visible upriver. The coat of arms in the arch over the quay belongs to Franz Ludwig, Count Palatine von Pfalz-Neuburg (1664–1732).