GUESS THE OBJECT #7
So soon after our last fantastic item, a Japanese clockwork flycatcher, we wanted to share a much simpler little item with similarly exceptional craftsmanship. We asked a few things - what it’s made out of, who is featured on it, and what it’s for - and while you gave it a solid crack, no one managed to get a three out of three!
[To Right: Our mystery object, laid flat.]
A little thing, made of an iridescent material which separates into two parts and has a small chamber within which partly juts out to fit snugly inside the top. It’s decorated with a neoclassically styled foliate carved base with a ball tip, the other end with a small figure to top standing by a rock and tree. A gold band runs around the base of the ‘lid’ and a small enameled image on gold of an urn with Egyptian style palmettes or lotuses is inset into the body.
[To Left: Another view of the mystery object, showing the inside.]
Some suggestions for the function included a snuff bottle, a vinaigrette box, scent bottle, or toothpick holder - but fantastically, everyone managed to guess the material and the figure! It is mother of pearl, also called nacre, a semi organic material produced by some molluscs, including pearl oysters. Ranging from the hypnotic abalone paua shell with its deep blue purples to the opaline white of the nautilus, and pearls themselves, cultures with access to the coast have made great use of shells as decoration and functional objects.
The figure is also easily recognisable, in particular because of his large hat, slim pantaloons, and decidedly grumpy expression, as the ever infamous Napoleon Bonaparte (b.1769 - d.1821), Emperor of the French. The choice of decoration, amongst other factors, determines this piece as French in origin, and his expression suggests there may be a satirical factor at play. More on this later!
[To Left: a little mother of pearl Napoleon, and he looks quite grumpy. Perhaps he’s upset about being stuck on Saint Helena.]
Enough avoiding the subject - we’re happy to reveal that the item is a needle case, for holding the sewing needles of a lady of leisure, or perhaps someone who invested a great deal of care and passion into their work and wanted to make sure their tools in fashionable form. We know from the fine quality, the figure of Napoleon, and the small inset enamel piece that this item is French, hailing from the turn of the 18th into the 19th century and into roughly 1820. The craftsmanship and style is typical of the makers of the Palais Royale workshops, a palace complex in the heart of Paris opposite the Louvre, which had been home to Cardinals and the Dukes of Orleans for centuries.
In the 1780s, efforts on behalf of Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orleans (b.1747 - d.1793), also known as Philippe Egalite (or Equality Phil when we’re feeling funny), who invested heavily in the theatre and arcades of the Palais, elevating it into a vibrant - and on occasion, debauched - community frequented by all walks of life. Situated below the apartments, in the infamous Galerie de Bois, were over a hundred stores and boutiques, selling jewelry, books, and ornaments, cafes and restaurants offering food and drink, and just next door was the Theatre du Palais Royal, offering comedies and dramas to an emerging middle audience hungry for cutting edge entertainment. Visitors, in particular the British, were in turn both mesmerized and appalled by the scenes in front of them. John Scott, a British Journalist, had this to say about the Palais Royale:
“The Palais Royal…is dissolute, gay, wretched, elegant, paltry, busy, and idle; it suggests recollections of atrocity, and supplies sights of fascination; it displays virtue and vice living on easy terms, and in immediate neighbourhood with each other. …”
- John Scott, “A Visit to Paris in 1814” (Third Edition), London: England, c.1815, pp.117-138 (via Shannon Selin)
Fun fact: the Palais Royale, now home to the French Ministry of Culture, is where one of our own staff previously was employed - and they confirmed that the stores are just as expensive and luxurious as they were in the 18th and 19th centuries.
The choice to depict Napoleon is an interesting one. The late 18th century had proved an extremely bloody one for the French, and not just the nobility, and successive power struggles would continue to plague the nation for many years to come. And in turn, the sense of humour the French possessed meant there was no shortage of satire to be made about anyone, and Napoleon was the perfect choice (after all, he wasn’t really French, some argued, as he was Corsican by birth, which was only ceded to France in 1768 after centuries of Genoan rule). A recent example of a ‘Monkey’ Napoleon needle case, depicted in a contemporary cartoon referencing the struggle for dominion between the French and the English over the rule of Malta, was sold on Ebay for over a thousand dollars. The small plaque is near identical to the small plaques on other cases with the ‘Pansy’ motif, which, in French, pensee, shares the meaning of ‘remembrance’ - a subtle message of love, asking the intended recipient to think fondly of the person who had bought it for them. If you really wanted to be remembered, however, you could purchase an entire casket of tools, all rendered carefully and delicately from mother of pearl, with extra arms such as crochet hooks, scissors, awls, and thimbles; some even came with music boxes built in, such as this example sold at Bonhams in 2012.
A bustling, bawdy French shopping arcade, the grandiosity of the French Empire during the time of Napoleon, and the timelessness of fine craftsmanship are all captured in this little object which is in excellent condition.
This item, amongst many other beautiful things, will be up for sale in our Antiques & Collectables Auction as Lot 32, and will be available for viewing until then.
References:
'The Palais-Royal: Social Centre of 19th-Century Paris', by Shannon Selin, via shannonselin.com [Blog], <https://shannonselin.com/2022/02/palais-royal-19th-century/>
'When a Tiny Enamel Pansy was a Hallmark of Excellence - Work-Boxes', by Kathryn Kane, via The Regency Redingote [Blog] <https://regencyredingote.wordpress.com/2012/07/06/when-a-tiny-enamel-pansy-was-a-hallmark-of-excellence-work-boxes/>
'Paris's Galeries de Bois, prototype of the modern shopping centre - a history of cities in 50 buildings, day 6' by Kim Willsher, via The Guardian [News Article], <https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/mar/30/galeries-de-bois-paris-history-cities-50-buildings>
'Lot 96: An Early 19th century Palais Royal musical sewing box of scallop shell form', in 'The Oak Interior', Chester; UK, 19th of April, 2012, via <https://www.bonhams.com/auction/19887/lot/96/an-early-19th-century-palais-royal-musical-sewing-box-of-scallop-shell-form/>