A late 19th-century antique rug, the shaded cocoa brownfield with an allover pattern of enlarged polychrome floral sprays. The Savonnerie rug factory, located on the site of the present Musee d’Art Moderne, inherited its name from the soap-making factory it took over at the behest of Louis XIII. From 1660 until 1743 Savonnerie was a manufacturer of royale, carrying out commissions for French Aubusson rugs and Aubusson carpets specifically designed for the Royal Palaces. In the 1770s, the tapestry looms at Aubusson in the Cruze Valley near Limoges were converted to produce flat-woven antique rugs and carpets under royal warrant. No one knows precisely when European rugs weaving began in this area, but it is certain that tapestries were first woven there long before the Gothic era.