IMPORTANT SOUVENIRS OF EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. Reliquary frame in carved wood, lacquered in black and gold, decorated at the corners with medallions featuring the imperial eagle on crossed barrels, and at the top with a coat of arms. It contains : -A piece of Emperor Napoleon I's hat, said to have been worn at the battle of Austerlitz. In taupe felt (20 x 40 mm). Accompanied by a folded period bill written in pen: "This piece of felt came from Napoleon's hat after the battle of Austerlitz. The painter Gros was commissioned by the Emperor to paint his portrait, and the hat was entrusted to him along with a frock coat by the Duke of Padua, who had received the order from the Emperor and then had it transported to Corsica to Corte in 1814, in his residence. The Emperor had it reclaimed from Elba, but when 1815 arrived, it was not returned to him. This piece was cut from the hat itself with the permission of M. Mariani, a relative of the Duke of Padua". The Bonaparte genealogy follows. It is presented under glass with a Restauration-period reduction of a chevalier de la Légion d'honneur of the 4th type with star. In silver, gold and enamel (chips and missing pieces). Poinçon faisceau de licteur (1809-1819) Size: 40 x 21 mm. Frame: 28 x 28 cm. B.E. Provenance: -Reportedly from Baron Gros, who received it to paint a portrait of the Emperor. -Returned to Arrighi, Duke of Padua. -The fragment was cut out with the agreement of Baron Mariani, the rest of the hat remaining in the hands of the Dukes of Padua. -Marshal Guillaume Dode de la Brunerie, -Then descendants. Related work: -The hat from which this piece of felt was taken still exists today. Kept by the Arrighi de Casanova family, it has a similar history to our own. The hat was exhibited in 2021 at the Maison Bonaparte. At the time, curator Jean-Marc Olivesi reported: "An ancient tradition that appeared in Corsica as early as 1825 relates that the hat worn by Napoleon at Austerlitz was kept successively on the island within two related families, that of the Barons Mariani and that of the Arrighi de Casanova, Dukes of Padua, both of Corte.". In 1825, Robert Benson mentions it in his "Sketches of Corsica". In it, he recounts his visit to the Duke of Padua two years earlier. "Among other curiosities, I saw the hat worn by Napoleon at the battle of Austerlitz: it was extremely light, and of its peculiar shape; the brim of the front part was a little torn, as if by a bullet", he says at the time. In 1848, William Cowen also reported seeing the bicorne in his Six Weeks in Corsica. More than a bullet, it's our piece of felt, cut out with Baron Mariani's authorization, and given to Dode de la Brunerie. It should be noted that Baron Gros owned another hat (the Eylau and Friedland hats), purchased by Count Clary at his after-death sale in 1835.) History: Dode is rewarded here for his skill during the Spanish campaign of 1823 and his role in the capture of Cadiz and the Trocadero. Provenance: -Marshal Guillaume Dode de la Brunerie, -Then descendants.