Tapestry: La Collation, from L'Histoire de l'empereur de la Chine Series

From the Getty Museum record

Surrounded by attendants and seated at a round table before a tiled, outdoor pavilion, the Chinese emperor and empress enjoy a light meal. While the imperial couple are served tea and fruit, a servant reaches up behind them to remove a platter from a buffet of golden dishes and blue-and-white porcelain arranged in the European fashion. Seated on a stool to the left, a female musician with a monkey at her feet plays a stringed instrument resembling a sitar. In the center, a dwarf dances to her music, while to the right a maid drops incense into a golden incense burner. A large carpet covers the platform on which the emperor and empress sit. The edge of the carpet is woven with the inscription of Guy-Louis Vernansal, who was the chief designer of the tapestry series known as *The Story of the Emperor of China*. These tapestries are from a series called The Story of the Emperor of China, featuring imagined Chinese scenes. The Getty has six other tapestries from this same set: [*La Récolte es ananas*](https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/5805/after-cartoons-by-guy-louis-vernansal-and-jean-baptiste-monnoyer-and-jean-baptiste-belin-de-fontenay-et-al-tapestry-la-recolte-des-ananas-from-l'histoire-de-l'empereur-de-la-chine-series-french-about-1697-1705/), [*Les Astronomes*](https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/5806/beauvais-manufactory-woven-under-the-direction-of-philippe-behagle-after-cartoons-by-guy-louis-vernansal-et-al-tapestry-les-astronomes-from-l'histoire-de-l'empereur-de-la-chine-series-french-about-1697-1705/), [*L’Empereur en voyage*](https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/5807/after-cartoons-by-guy-louis-vernansal-and-jean-baptiste-monnoyer-and-jean-baptiste-belin-de-fontenay-et-al-tapestry-l'empereur-en-voyage-from-l'histoire-de-l'empereur-de-la-chine-series-french-about-1690-1705/), [*Le Retour de la chasse*](https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/5808/after-cartoons-by-guy-louis-vernansal-and-jean-baptiste-monnoyer-and-jean-baptiste-belin-de-fontenay-et-al-tapestry-le-retour-de-la-chasse-from-l'histoire-de-l'empereur-de-la-chine-series-french-about-1697-1705/), [*Le Thé de l’impératrice*](https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/6006/beauvais-manufactory-woven-under-the-direction-of-philippe-behagle-after-designs-by-jean-baptiste-monnoyer-et-al-tapestry-le-the-de-l'imperatrice-from-l'histoire-de-l'empereur-de-la-chine-series-french-about-1697-1705/), and [*L’Embarquement de l’impératrice*](https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/127262/after-designs-by-guy-louis-vernansal-and-jean-baptiste-monnoyer-and-jean-baptiste-belin-de-fontenay-et-al-tapestry-l'embarquement-de-l'imperatrice-from-l'histoire-de-l'empereur-de-la-chine-series-french-design-about-1690-weave-about-1697-1705/).