Inscribed Agatha Christie Novels Will Delight Her Fans

Summary

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Readers of our midweek series on collecting may recall the piece on Aubusson carpets earlier in the year and the support Louis XIV gave to the rug-making industry of France. There the craft of carpet weaving was regarded as an art form and the favoured Aubusson region had sole manufacturing rights in the late 16th century under the protection of Le Roi Soleil (the Sun King).

The industry flourished making pictorial carpets with no pile, and had a free hand when invited to furnish many stately houses, which included the re-modelling of an insignificant villa just outside Paris. The lavish palace of Versailles is the result of this indulgence, which retains its majesty, pomp and ceremony still today when shown to visiting heads of state and royalty by the leaders of the republic, who are able to enjoy the luxurious surroundings due to a regent who lost his head for similar indulgences.

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Extract

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Inscribed Agatha Christie Novels Will Delight Her Fans

Like Aubusson carpets, a Louis XVI pastoral tapestry also has a woven picture surrounded by a border of intertwined leaves and flowers in Bearne's Exeter Greenway sale on Tuesday. Measuring 99 x 123in (252 x 312cm), the woven image depicts a girl on a swing with attendant figures, together with a family group and dog, sheep and cat...

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