Lot 127
A Louis Philippe silver-gilt paperweight Fossin & Fils, Paris circa 1840
Auction: 8 April 2009 at 11:30 BST
Description
shaped oblong, decorated with scroll and formal foliage and set with ruby cabochons, with a shaped swing handle above a tortoiseshell oblong panel hiding a compartment, surrounded by a malachite inlaid border, engraved to rim 'A MON AMI CHARLES DE MORNAY SOUVENIR DE MON AMITIE 1840' and 'FOSSIN ET FILS JOALLIERS DU ROY'
Dimensions
11.5cm wide
Footnote
Notes:
Fossin et Fils, Royal Jewellers, predecessors of the famous firm Chaumet, was patronised by the Paris elite in the 1830s and 40s, including the Duchesse de Berry and Anatole Nikolaievitch Demidoff. This hugely wealthy Russian, granted the title Prince of San Donato by his friend the Grand Duke of Tuscany, lived primarily in France. As a great admirer of Napoleon, he was involved in the movement to have the Emperor's remains returned to Paris, which was finally achieved in December 1840. A month earlier Demidoff had married, after protracted negotiations, Bonaparte's niece, Princesse Mathilde, having commissioned her wedding jewellery from Fossin et Fils. Counte Charles de Mornay, Louis Philippe's Marechal du Camp, was an old friend of Demidoff's. In 1833 Delacroix had painted a picture (now destroyed) portraying the Count welcoming Demidoff to his house. It appears Prince Demidoff ordered this paperweight from his jewellers as a gift to his friend, perhaps in celebration of his marriage, perhaps to mark the return of Napoleon's remains, or perhaps for both reasons.