The origins

The first entrepreneur, Louis Hinard, local in Beauvais, had already established workshops in Paris and was producing unambitious floral and foliate tapestries known also as verdures.  He was arrested for his debts in 1684 and the workshops were sucessfully refounded under Philippe Behagle, a merchant tapestry manufacturer from Oudenarde who had also worked in the traditional weaving city of Tournai. 

 

The Weaving

Tapestries were made at Beauvais for the wealthy bourgeoisie and nobility of France, as well as for export.  The Royal tapestries for the King were made exclusively at the Gobelins factory.  In the 19th century the quality began to deteriorate and production declined.

 

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Beauvais weaving today

Tapestry weaving at Beauvais ceased in 1989.  In 1940 the workshops were destroyed and moved to Paris.  It then returned to Beauvais in 1989 but remains as a small-scale museum with 10 or so looms.

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Hines Tapestry Collection

At Hines of Oxford we have 14 Original Aubusson Tapestries in our Antiques collection.  Many pieces in our collection have been in a private French collection for many decades and not been out of the country before Hines aquired them.  As such the quality is very good to excellent.