Description
This item is offered in collaboration with the Rossini study. Exceptional box set of two pistols made by Gosset once owned by Emperor Napoleon I and given by him to to General Armand de Caulaincourt, Duc de Vicence, on the night of April 12-13, 1814. By decree dated July 3, 2024, the French Ministry of Culture refused to issue an export certificate for its classification as a National Treasure. Rectangular case, covered with burr-walnut veneer, enriched at the edge with an ebony baguette, The inside of the lid is sheathed in green velvet, richly embroidered all around with a large gold embroidery of oak leaves and bees in the corners, surrounding a central "N" under a laurel wreath bearing nine stars, embroidered in gold thread. Engraved silver lock plate: "Boite de pistolets donnée à Fontainebleau à Monsieur le Duc de Vicence par l'Empereur Napoléon en 1814". Cloverleaf lock with brass escutcheon. All screws on the lock plate and hinges are chased. The pistols and accessories are recessed and presented in a burr-walnut veneer trimmed with green velvet on the bottoms and embellished, in the corners, with two compartments with urn-shaped knob lids. It contains a pair of pistols by GOSSET, one short-barreled, the other long-barreled. Rich damascus barrels, decorated in gold. Richly engraved breech tails, locks and hammers. Richly carved walnut mounts decorated with carved ebony motifs. The stock backs bear blue-enameled gold thumb pieces with the Emperor Napoleon I's numeral. The short-barrel model features a gold medallion on the front of the barrel, featuring the profile of Emperor Napoleon I and the Imperial Eagle. Complete with accessories in very good original condition. Box dimensions: 18 x 32 x Ht. 8 cm. First Empire period (circa 1810-1812) The plating on the lid of the box is lifted and cracked, small lack of plating on an inner edge, repair of the plating on the back of the box. Key missing. Full description in the July 7 sale catalog. Provenance : -Emperor Napoleon I. Given on the night of April 12-13, 1814, to General Armand de Caulaincourt. -It has remained in his family ever since. History: The history of these pistols is rooted in the dark hours of the end of the Empire and the Emperor's first abdication: they are doubly linked to Napoleon I's suicide attempt at Fontainebleau, on the night of April 12-13, 1814. Discover the full story in the July 7 sale catalog. The Duke of Vicenza religiously preserved these relics until his death in 1827. In his will, deposited with Me Poignant, notary in Paris, on February 20, 1827, Caulaincourt bequeathed to his eldest son Adrien: "1°- the cameo on onyx representing Emperor Napoleon on one side and an eagle on the other. 2°- the Emperors' saber worn by Emperor Napoleon 3°- this sovereign's fine pistols". He added: "I attach great value to these objects because they were given to me by him in 1814 at Fontainebleau when I left him, as a memento of the loyalty and attachment I had always shown him". Exhibitions: - Deux siècles de gloire militaire, 1610-1814 : exposition organisée avec le concours de la Sabretache", April-June 1935, Musée des arts décoratifs, Pavillon de Marsan. n°879. Pair of pistols belonging to the Emperor and given by him to General de Caulaincourt, Duc de Vicence, at Fontainebleau in 1814. By Boutet (note: there is an error in the name of the harquebusier). Our kit is clearly visible in the central display case in period photographs (Archives de la Sabretache), under the "sabre des Empereurs", also located at that time in the descendants of General de Caulaincourt. Related works: - "Sabre des Empereurs" offered by Napoleon to the grand-écuyer Caulaincourt on the morning of April 13, 1814 in Fontainebleau. From the same provenance as our box of pistols, in Caulaincourt's descendants, the saber, its belt and its case joined the Château de Fontainebleau collections in 1996, via a dation. -A pair of Emperor Napoleon I pistols, by Nicolas Noël Boutet, in the collections of the Musée du Louvre, assigned to the Musée de l'Armée (Inv. Ms 88). - Box of two pairs of pistols, once owned by Napoleon I by Nicolas Noël-Boutet, Musée de l'Armée collections (Inv. Ca 19) Biographies : Louis Marin GOSSET Active from the early 19th century,
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This item is offered in collaboration with the Rossini study. Exceptional box set of two pistols made by Gosset once owned by Emperor Napoleon I and given by him to to General Armand de Caulaincourt, Duc de Vicence, on the night of April 12-13, 1814. By decree dated July 3, 2024, the French Ministry of Culture refused to issue an export certificate for its classification as a National Treasure. Rectangular case, covered with burr-walnut veneer, enriched at the edge with an ebony baguette, The inside of the lid is sheathed in green velvet, richly embroidered all around with a large gold embroidery of oak leaves and bees in the corners, surrounding a central "N" under a laurel wreath bearing nine stars, embroidered in gold thread. Engraved silver lock plate: "Boite de pistolets donnée à Fontainebleau à Monsieur le Duc de Vicence par l'Empereur Napoléon en 1814". Cloverleaf lock with brass escutcheon. All screws on the lock plate and hinges are chased. The pistols and accessories are recessed and presented in a burr-walnut veneer trimmed with green velvet on the bottoms and embellished, in the corners, with two compartments with urn-shaped knob lids. It contains a pair of pistols by GOSSET, one short-barreled, the other long-barreled. Rich damascus barrels, decorated in gold. Richly engraved breech tails, locks and hammers. Richly carved walnut mounts decorated with carved ebony motifs. The stock backs bear blue-enameled gold thumb pieces with the Emperor Napoleon I's numeral. The short-barrel model features a gold medallion on the front of the barrel, featuring the profile of Emperor Napoleon I and the Imperial Eagle. Complete with accessories in very good original condition. Box dimensions: 18 x 32 x Ht. 8 cm. First Empire period (circa 1810-1812) The plating on the lid of the box is lifted and cracked, small lack of plating on an inner edge, repair of the plating on the back of the box. Key missing. Full description in the July 7 sale catalog. Provenance : -Emperor Napoleon I. Given on the night of April 12-13, 1814, to General Armand de Caulaincourt. -It has remained in his family ever since. History: The history of these pistols is rooted in the dark hours of the end of the Empire and the Emperor's first abdication: they are doubly linked to Napoleon I's suicide attempt at Fontainebleau, on the night of April 12-13, 1814. Discover the full story in the July 7 sale catalog. The Duke of Vicenza religiously preserved these relics until his death in 1827. In his will, deposited with Me Poignant, notary in Paris, on February 20, 1827, Caulaincourt bequeathed to his eldest son Adrien: "1°- the cameo on onyx representing Emperor Napoleon on one side and an eagle on the other. 2°- the Emperors' saber worn by Emperor Napoleon 3°- this sovereign's fine pistols". He added: "I attach great value to these objects because they were given to me by him in 1814 at Fontainebleau when I left him, as a memento of the loyalty and attachment I had always shown him". Exhibitions: - Deux siècles de gloire militaire, 1610-1814 : exposition organisée avec le concours de la Sabretache", April-June 1935, Musée des arts décoratifs, Pavillon de Marsan. n°879. Pair of pistols belonging to the Emperor and given by him to General de Caulaincourt, Duc de Vicence, at Fontainebleau in 1814. By Boutet (note: there is an error in the name of the harquebusier). Our kit is clearly visible in the central display case in period photographs (Archives de la Sabretache), under the "sabre des Empereurs", also located at that time in the descendants of General de Caulaincourt. Related works: - "Sabre des Empereurs" offered by Napoleon to the grand-écuyer Caulaincourt on the morning of April 13, 1814 in Fontainebleau. From the same provenance as our box of pistols, in Caulaincourt's descendants, the saber, its belt and its case joined the Château de Fontainebleau collections in 1996, via a dation. -A pair of Emperor Napoleon I pistols, by Nicolas Noël Boutet, in the collections of the Musée du Louvre, assigned to the Musée de l'Armée (Inv. Ms 88). - Box of two pairs of pistols, once owned by Napoleon I by Nicolas Noël-Boutet, Musée de l'Armée collections (Inv. Ca 19) Biographies : Louis Marin GOSSET Active from the early 19th century,
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