Among items in a recent auction at Sotheby’s, several Napoleonic items, mostly from the collection of Empress Eugenie, found bidders.
A tortoiseshell double portrait box with gold and enamel mounts, Martin-Guillaume Biennais, Paris, 1801-1809, oval, the lid inset with two facing profiles in cameo of Napoléon I, Emperor of the French and his consort Joséphine.
A group of ten hardstone, shell or glass paste cameos, Italian and French. early to mid 19th century, including Napoleon and several members of the Bonaparte family
A gold-mounted tortoiseshell portrait snuff box, Pierre André Montauban, Paris, 1806-1809, rectangular, the lid inset with a navette-shaped miniature of Josephine, Empress of the French, by Jean-Baptiste Isabey, signed: Isabey, circa 1807
Stuff box with portraits of Hortense and Eugène de Beauharnais
An Imperial French silver, silver-gilt, and Paris porcelain chocolatière de voyage, retailed by Martin-Guillaume Biennais, Paris, circa 1800, belonging to Princess Pauline Borghese
A tortoiseshell portrait snuffbox with gold mounts, Pierre André Montauban, Paris, 1798-1809, rectangular, the lid set with an oval miniature of Maria Letizia Bonaparte, Madame Mère, by Jean Baptiste Isabey, after François Pascal Simon, circa 1805,
An ivory miniature of Maria Letizia Bonaparte/Madame Mère, French School, circa 1810.
A gold-mounted lapis lazuli double portrait snuffbox, probably Florence, circa 1810, the lid applied with two gold-framed oval portraits of Jérôme Napoléon, King of Westphalia, and his consort Catherine, Princess of Württemberg, by Jean Baptiste Jacques Augustin, he signed Augustin.
A yellow gold quarter repeating cylinder watch with enamel portraits, chain, seal and ring no 1529, circa 1850, jewelled cylinder movement; yellow gold cuvette; white enamel dial, Roman numerals, outer minute track; yellow gold case, the crystal with later central enamel portrait depicting Jerome Bonaparte and Catharina of Württemberg, and Napoleon.