This dress and its train (known in French as a queue de cour) were worn by the wife of the Conseiller d’Etat, Jean Bérenger (1767-1850) (Comte de l’Empire in 1808), during the ceremony of the coronation of Napoleon I.
The dress is in ivory silk, delicately embroidered with silver and gold thread. On the shoulders there are small embroideries in ivory tulle. The train is made of scarlet velvet silk with a lining of white satin.
This ensemble was kindly loaned by the owner for the exhibition at the Musée Jacquemart-André, ‘The Treasures of the Fondation Napoléon‘, 28 September, 2004, to 3 April, 2005.
The Fondation Napoléon financed the Restoration of the dress in 2019. Watch a short video about this restoration.
(T.D. trans. P.H.)