247 - RARE IMPERIAL GIFT BOX, PRESENTED ON THE OCCASION OF THE BAPTISM OF THE KING OF ROME

RARE IMPERIAL GIFT BOX, PRESENTED ON THE OCCASION OF THE BAPTISM OF THE KING OF ROME Round box made of burl wood lined with 3rd-title gold (750 parts per thousand), the lid inlaid with three gold medallions after Jean-Bertrand Andrieu (1761–1822) under domed glass; two of them are dated 1810 and feature the double straight-profile portraits of Emperor Napoleon I and Empress Marie-Louise, while the third depicts the left-profile portrait of the King of Rome. The setting needs to be reattached; one piece of glass is missing from the interior. Paris, 1809–1819. Fine-weight hallmark featuring the second rooster on the left and the lion’s head guarantee mark on the right. Goldsmith: Antoine Tardiveau (licensed in 1798). H. 2.2 x D. 9.3 cm. Gross weight: 118.1 g. Provenance De Baecque & Associés auction, Paris, March 12, 2012, lot 143. History Napoleon was a frequent recipient of gifts in the form of boxes and snuffboxes, inlaid with ancient medals—mostly for himself—and contemporary ones—mostly as gifts. The birth of the King of Rome was a “golden” opportunity to create such gifts. Indeed, we learn from F. Masson that in 1809, M. de Rémusat, the Emperor’s master of the wardrobe, came to select five gold medals to adorn one of the Emperor’s snuffboxes. There was another delivery, of eleven medals, in 1810... (See Frédéric MASSON, *Napoleon at Home: The Emperor’s Day at the Tuileries* (1894), section “Snuffboxes and Candy Boxes of Napoleon I,” pp. 346–360).