Objects

The compass was brought to Europe by the Arabs during the Mediaeval period, it rapidly became an essential tool for soldiers and sailors alike, achieving almost a supernatural, almost magical status. In the 13th century, the scientist Pierre de Mauricourt studied the physics of magnets, becoming the first to establish a link between compasses and […]

This bust of the Pope who consecrated Napoleon I, made by Antonio Canova, is held at the Château de Versailles. The marble likeness echoes the Pope’s brief visit to Louis XIV’s château, on 3 January 1805 (see here an account of the Pope’s visit to Versailles). Pius VII had been invited to Paris by Napoleon to […]

The University Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (FR-CERESE) carried out a crowdfunding campaign in the spring of 2018 in order to supplement the funding that the eReCoNat programme had obtained for the digitisation of Prince Roland Bonaparte’s exceptional herbarium. A 13m-long industrial scanning bench was installed amongst the herbarium’s antique furniture in order to digitise the […]

This “Baron d’Empire” diploma was granted to Colonel Charles Bouge at the end of March 1808 and confirmed in January 1809. He was in the first wave of Barons d’Empire, the title having been created on 1 March 1808. Charles Bouge embraced the French Revolution: he was captain in the 2nd Battalion of Volunteers of […]

Description * Similar to Dragoon Guards in the British Army Wrought iron cuirass (2 – 3 mm) of the same type as that used by French cuirassiers, plated (up to 25 mm from the edge) with “red brass” (= copper). The cuirass comprises a breast- and back-plate, joined by shoulder parts. The breastplate (“plastron” in […]

This ensemble of two necklaces, a pair of bracelets, a diadem, a brooch, a pendant and six pins, attributed to jewellers Marie-Étienne Nitot and François-Régnault Nitot (father and son), is decorated with cameos in malachite, natural pearls, yellow gold and tortoiseshell. All except three of the cameos have antique-style figures on them, female or male profiles. The two […]

In June 2018, the Musée du Louvre issued a press release* informing the general public that they had solved a mystery more than 150 years old. Since 1862, the museum has owned a bronze finger, 38 cm in height, clearly a fragment from the hand of an ancient statue. The only thing we knew about […]

The jewellery worn by the Ladies in Waiting or Dames of Empress Eugenie’s Household are indicative of the sumptuous nature of the Empire and the brilliant technicity of French jewellery. The broach here also had a practical use: unlike the men in service to the crown, the ladies had no uniform. A specific broach was […]

In the decree of 10 July 1804, Napoleon I stipulated that the new imperial coat of arms should be “d’azur à l’aigle à l’antique d’or, empiétant un foudre du même” (“azure, with an eagle in the manner of antiquity, coloured gold, clutching in its talons a thunderbolt of the same colour”). After the proclamation of […]

This posthumous portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte carved in marble must be one of the most curious works to come out of the studio of French sculptor Auguste Rodin. It was commissioned in 1904 by the American collector Kate Seney Simpson,The daughter of a Brooklyn banker and art collector, George I. Seney and wife of New […]