Box of Hortense de Beauharnais gift box.... - Lot 100 - Osenat

Lot 100
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Estimation :
15000 - 20000 EUR
Result with fees
Result : 60 000EUR
Box of Hortense de Beauharnais gift box.... - Lot 100 - Osenat
Box of Hortense de Beauharnais gift box. In gold. Lid decorated with the number H on an amati background, bordered with friezes of foliage. Sides decorated with squares and cartouches. Bottom decorated with flowers. Hallmarks of title 750, medium guarantee Paris (1798-1809) Goldsmith's mark of Jacques Félix VIENNOT (Ainé). 82 x 48 x Ht 13 cm. Gross weight : 107 g. In its red morocco case lined with silk and ivory velvet, closed with two hooks. B.E. First Empire period, circa 1804-1806. Provenance: Former Ledoux-Lebard collection Biography: Hortense de Beauharnais (Paris 1783 - Arenenberg 1837). After a stay in Martinique, she enters the National Institution of Saint-Germain, founded by Mrs Campan. Bonaparte takes her daughter-in-law in affection and, in agreement with Josephine, makes her marry her brother Louis (January 1802). A poorly matched union: the young woman shows only a mediocre attachment to her husband, who, for his part, very quickly shows a sickly jealousy. The birth of three sons was not enough to strengthen the bonds of the household. In 1806, Hortense reluctantly followed King Louis to Holland, where, in four years, she spent just over six months, playing no political role. The misunderstanding between her and her husband only grew, and when her husband abdicated (1810), she obtained from the Emperor the right to live separately from him. The following year, she gave birth to a natural child, the son of a young and brilliant officer, the Count of Flahaut, who would become the Duke of Morny. At the fall of the Empire, she was made Duchess of Saint-Leu by Louis XVIII, at the request of Tsar Alexander, and, on his return from the island of Elba, she held the court of Napoleon: it was at her home, in Malmaison, that he retired in June 1815, after the second abdication. Exiled by the second Restoration, Hortense, thanks to the protection of Metternich, takes refuge in Switzerland, where she buys the castle of Arenenberg (1817) on the southern shore of Lake Constance, where she lives in the summer. After frequent stays in Augsburg, Bavaria, she lives in Italy and Switzerland. In 1831, she went to Paris, but was kept in exile. Related works: - This type of box is early in the Empire, which is confirmed by the punches. Our box takes up the appearance and the figure of the Emperor's donation boxes by Blerzy, Marguerite or Nitot. - In the collections of the Fondation Napoléon we find a gold box by Viennot decorated with a portrait of Napoleon I in coronation dress by Isabey.
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