Back panel for a bed (Lit à la duchesse en impériale) 1775 - 1795

This is a woven silk tapestry, made at the Beauvais manufactory in France. It was intended as the back panel for a ‘Lit à la duchesse en impériale,’ or a ‘duchess bed’ with a canopy. The panel is patterned with urns of flowers, garlands and doves. At its centre is an oval depicting two doves in an embrace, all motifs which communicate a theme of love. Beauvais was one of the most famous tapestry factories in France and these bed hangings would have been commissioned for the bedchamber of an aristocratic client. We can interpret this imagery by looking at the social conventions of 18th-century France, which saw the aristocratic bedchamber as a semi-public space for receiving guests. It became customary for the aristocracy to enact their most intimate moments in the public eye. We know this because the aristocracy themselves are commenting on the social structures of their time, as private diaries and memoirs show evidence of an obsession with such public displays of affection. By looking at the social and institutional contexts in which art like this was produced, we can begin to interpret its meaning as something contingent on social convention.