Savonnerie manufactory

[1] Under a patent (privilège) of eighteen years, a monopoly was granted by Louis XIII in 1627 to DuPont and his former apprentice Simon Lourdet, makers of carpets façon de Turquie ("in the manner of Turkey").

The pre-history of the Savonnerie manufacture lies in the concerns of Henri IV to revive the French luxury arts, which had collapsed in the disorders of civil violence in the Wars of Religion.

The tapestry-workers were orphan children provided by the Hôpital de Bon Port, and Lourdet gained possession of the soap-factory buildings, while Dupont continued at the Galeries du Louvre until his death in 1640; the pile carpet manufactories both flourished, providing both Cardinal Mazarin and Anne of Austria with carpets and pile hangings, now proudly made, as the documents state, façon de France, "in the French manner".

In its heyday, the Savonnerie took sixty orphans aged ten to twelve and apprenticed them for six years, at the end of which term, one would be granted the maîtrise while the others would remain journeymen.

Later, under the financial stringencies ensuing from the wars of Louis XIV, the Savonnerie fell into eclipse, its management combined with that of the Gobelins under the direction of the architect of the Bâtiments du Roi, Robert de Cotte, its workers often unpaid, its looms frequently idle, though in 1712 it was made a Manufacture Royale.

The Revolution saw the factory's nadir; royal crowns, cyphers and fleurs-de-lys were cut from carpets that remained in storage as insignia of féodalité.