Joséphine de BEAUHARNAIS, (1763-1814), Empress. - Lot 267

Lot n° 267
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Estimation :
12000 - 15000 EUR
Result with fees
Result : 78 000EUR
Joséphine de BEAUHARNAIS, (1763-1814), Empress. - Lot 267
Joséphine de BEAUHARNAIS, (1763-1814), Empress. Pretty and fine "aux amours" gift box. Oval, with two 18K yellow and red golds. Ornamented on the lid is a hinged oval enameled miniature of a young woman in bust form holding a bird and a bouquet, circled in green enamel on a round purple ground, surrounded by a garland of flowers under a wreath and a green drapery. When lifted, the miniature reveals a medallion with a watercolor miniature of a busty young woman in a green dress and white blouse, wearing a charlotte. Two branches of foliage and flowers are stamped on either side of a guilloché background, bordered by chased foliage. Belt enriched with branches of flowers en suite and four medallions decorated on an amati background: baskets of flowers, musical attributes, baskets and arrows and baskets of fruit. Background decorated with a medallion "aux amours" on an amati background, framed by branches of leaves and flowers, on a striated background decorated en suite. T.B.E. Late 18th century (a tiny dot of enamel is missing from the crown). Marked F1 under crown (unidentified, probably Swiss work). Dim.: 80 x 50 mm x Ht. 35 mm. Gross weight: 101.7 g. Provenance : -Empress JOSEPHINE -Empress EUGENIE -Collection prince Victor NAPOLEON n°4359 -Prince Louis NAPOLEON Collection - Charles BONAPARTE, Princess Catherine NAPOLEON and Princess Laure NAPOLEON -Acquired by Countess Viviane de WITT. Biography : Prince Louis Napoléon Bonaparte, (1914-1997), known as Louis Napoléon, great-grandson of Jérôme Bonaparte, King of Westphalia, brother of Napoléon I, he was Head of the Imperial House of France from 1926 until his death, bearing the title of Prince Napoléon. In 1949, he married Alix de Foresta, daughter of the Count and Countess de Foresta, who became Princess Napoléon. The couple had four children: Charles Bonaparte, Catherine Bonaparte, Laure Bonaparte and Jérôme Bonaparte. IMPERATRESS JOSÉPHINE DE BEAUHARNAIS (1763-1814) Marie Joseph Rose de Tascher de La Pagerie, (1763-1814). Married Alexandre de Beauharnais in 1779, from whom she soon separated after the birth of her two children, Eugène and Hortense. Her husband was guillotined in 1794. Met the young General Bonaparte in autumn 1795, who fell passionately in love with her and married her on March 9, 1796. Renamed Joséphine by Napoleon, she accompanied him on his prodigious ascent. A well-informed patron of the arts, she played a major role in the development of the arts under the First Empire. Very attentive to her appearance, she spent lavishly on toiletries and sumptuous finery. After her divorce in 1809, she retained ownership of the Malmaison estate and received the title of Duchess of Navarre. Typical of the production of this period, this box is distinguished by the combination of multi-colored golds with partly enameled reliefs. The ornamental repertoire of love is repeated on all sides: the altar, crowned hearts, Cupid's quiver and arrow, the two doves symbolizing the couple... The object came from Empress Josephine, a young 18th-century woman with the education, taste and aristocratic codes of pre-Revolutionary society. Presumably, the box came from her family or her life before Bonaparte, perhaps from her first marriage to the Viscount de Beauharnais. According to the typed inventory book of the Prince Victor Napoleon collection, n°4359 is described as follows: Chased gold oval box, bearing a miniature, head of a woman with lace in her hair, green enamel surround - the medallion opens and contains a miniature: bust of a woman in a green dress, white blouse and bonnet - Louis XVI period. Belonged to Empress JOSEPHINE. (Provenance: S.M. l'Impératrice EUGENIE) Temporary import The buyer will have to pay an import fee of 5.5% in addition to the hammer price, unless the item is immediately re-exported outside the European Union. Work in temporary import The buyer will have to pay import fees of 5.5% in addition to the hammer price, unless the buyer immediately re-exports the lot outside the European Union.
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