ANTIQUE ROYAL AUBUSSON

ANTIQUE ROYAL AUBUSSON
Origin: FRANCE
Size: 20' 4" x 25' 0"
Rug ID # 485

Finely woven with wool and silk. The four cartouches at the corners of this carpet contain the coat-of-arms of Isma'il Pasha, the Khedive of Egypt and Sudan, who ruled Ottoman controlled Egypt from 1863 to 1879, to inaugurate the opening of the Suez Canal, the Khedive and the French Empress Eugenie, in the presence of Emperor Napoleon III and amid international fanfare, rode through the passage aboard the royal yacht Aigle, leading a procession of 68 vessels of various nationalities.  The event was hailed as the fete of the century and this carpet may have been commissioned for the occasion, perhaps as a diplomatic gift.

Circa 1870