RARE COUTEAU DE TABLE EN ARGENT AUX ARMES DE L’EMPEREUR NAPOLÉON IER PAR BIENNAIS

Table knife of the filets model, in silver 1st title (950 thousandths) and steel blade, the handle embossed with the large arms of Emperor Napoleon I. Blade stamped with an "H" under a crown and marked Grangeret, coutelier de l'Empereur (since 1806). Paris, 1798-1809. Title mark with 1st cock (partly illegible) and guarantee mark with old man's head. Goldsmith's hallmark of Martin-Guillaume BIENNAIS (1764-1843). Trace of a silversmith's hallmark, possibly by Lorillon, Biennais' subcontractor. L. 21.5 cm. Gross weight: 75.8 g. Provenance - Napoleon I's dinner service. - Taken during the looting of the Emperor's sedan on the evening of June 18, 1815, or taken by him to the island of St. Helena. - Private collection, Paris. History Martin Guillaume Biennais is considered one of France's greatest silversmiths. Under the Empire, he was the goldsmith of the imperial court and, above all, the official goldsmith of Emperor Napoleon I. He was awarded exclusive rights to supply the Emperor's table. In 1802, he obtained exclusive rights to supply the Emperor's table. He produced a vermeil service and a silver service, which were completed in 1810 and 1811. An inventory of the Court's silverware drawn up in 1812 mentions, among other items, "438 knives and flatware". All the pieces received an inventory number engraved by Biennais in September 1812; our knife, unnumbered, apparently escaped this rule. The knives of the large model of the surviving silver service are of the utmost rarity, as we know that all the silver remaining in France was melted down in the 19th century, notably by Napoleon III. Thus, the remaining silver can only have come from St. Helena or from the looting of the sedan at Waterloo (see Exhibition catalog, La berline de Napoléon, le mystère du butin de Waterloo. Musée de la Légion d'Honneur, March 7 to July 8, 2012, article by Anne Dion, p. 259). Other rare pieces of cutlery of this model are currently on display at the Château de la Malmaison and the Château de Fontainebleau. Related works - A complete Emperor cutlery set with a knife from the Berline, Millon sale, May 26, 2023, lot 141 (sold for €62,400). - A complete Emperor's cutlery, in a case, from Joseph Bonaparte, Osenat sale, November 20, 2016, lot 372 (sold for €26,250). - A cutlery set from the looting of the Berline, sold at Kâ-Mondo, June 24, 2015, lot 147 (sold for €31,000). - A set of five table spoons, five table forks, three teaspoons and six table knives, sold at Christie's, Paris, December 19, 2007, lot 173 (sold for €162,000).