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A highly important tapestry portrait of Augustus the Strong, circa 1713-29
Most likely made in the workshop of Pierre Mercier in Dresden, wearing a scarlet coat and tricorn hat, the Order of the Golden fleece, and other orders, 85 by 66cm in a later giltwood frame
Footnotes
Provenance: Property from the Royal House of Hanover, sold Sotheby's, Schloss Marienburg, 5-15 October 2005, lot 3908
This tapestry portrait was likely to have been made directly for the Saxon-Polish court. Pierre Mercier was a member of a well-known family of tapestry makers from Aubusson. As a Hugenot he was forced to flee France and arrived in Berlin in 1686 where he was immediately granted Royal patronage which enabled him to start a Royal tapestry manufactory on the grounds of Monbijou Palace for King Frederick William I. He did this with great success together with his brother in law, Jean Barraband.
In 1713, after the death of Barraband, Mercier left for Dresden and was appointed by August the Strong as Inspector of the Royal Tapestries. He created a new manufactory in Pirna, circa 20km south of Dresden down the Elbe river. Mercier developed several new iconographical schemes for large-scale tapestries for the Elector, few of which are still in the Royal Collections in Dresden today. He died in Dresden in 1729.
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