A micromosaic of a lady with a leopard attributed to Giacomo Raffaelli, Rome, circa 1800 the scantily draped female balanced on the fantastic beast who laps from a proffered basin, en grisaille against a blue ground within a rosso antico border, giltwood frame the mosaic rectangular width 29 cm, 11 3/8 in Provenance: Said to have come from the collection of Ferdinando II, King of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (1810-1859), Palazzo Rotunda (sic), Naples; purchased in Naples whilst on his honeymoon by George Rennie, brother of John Rennie, designer of London Bridge and the Serpentine Bridge, circa 1860; by descent to the present owner, his great great grandson The composition is derived from a small fresco that formed part of the decoration of the ante-room to the large dining room of the Villa di Arianna at Stabia, now in the collection of the Archaeological Museum, Naples, inv. no.8870. The present work may be compared with a pair of micromosaics of satyrs with a goat and a bacchante in the Gilbert Collection, illustrated Jeanette Hanisee Gabriel, The Gilbert Collection, Micromosaics, London, 2000, no.10 (inv. 1996.345; 1996.346 (MM281AB)). On the reverse of this pair are trade labels that read: Jacques Raffaelli/ Etude Mosaiques/ de travaux en tout genre de marbres/ a Rome/ Rue du Babuinon. 92/ pres du Theatre dMibert (sic). Given the similarity of style and technique between the Gilbert pair and this lot it is reasonable to attribute the latter to the same workshop. Giacomo Raffaelli (1743-1836) was the pre-eminent mosaicist in Rome during the late 18th century and early 19th century. He was described in Memorite romane di antichita e di belle arti, 1826, as 'lodatissimo fra i lodati'. One of the earliest exponents of 'mosaico in piccolo', Raffaelli's technical virtuosity and craftsmanship were ideally suited to render in mosaic the classical frescos that were emerging from the excavations at Pompeii and environs. He was extensively patronised by the papacy and foreign courts, including King Stanislas Poniatowski of Poland and Emperor Napoleon I.

a micromosaic of a lady with a leopard

the dished top and undertier decorated in the manner of Sevres with a bleu celeste ground, polychrome decoration and tooled gilding.  The top decorated with portraits of Louis XVI and prominent women of the French court

a napoleon iii style porcelain and gilt bronze gueridon, late 19th/early 20th century

English Literature, History, Children's Books and Illustrations

together with some retained copies of letters by Stuart, other copy letters on French politics, and some later letters and documents, the bulk of the letters relating to affairs in France and the Low Countries, in French and English, correspondents including British ministers and diplomats such as Richard Gardiner (including on “the sudden Re-Appearance of Bonaparte in France”), Alexander Ferrier, James Craufurd, William Walton (reporting “that in the whole of Spanish America a great deal of odium & animosity exists against the British name”), Lord Bathurst; many letters by French and Dutch ministers such as the Duc D’Ursel, the Comte de Blacas d’Aulps (6. including reports on the Channel ports), Anne Willem Carel van Nagell (extensive series of c.23 letters), Marquis de Bonnay, Duc de Duras, and the Duc de Feltre; military figures including George Bathurst and General D’Arblay (mentioning the relationship between Wellington and Blücher); bankers and merchants including Thomas Coutts; providing a detailed insight into the politics of the Bourbon Restoration and the Hundred Days with dramatic letters announcing the return of Napoleon (“a Jew Merchant of immense dealings & connections has just ...  recd an express ... with the intelligence that Buonaparte was actually at the head of a considerable insurrectionary body in the South of France”) and much correspondence relating to affairs in the Low Countries; altogether about 245 items, 1814-1842 (but the vast majority 1814-1815); browning, nicks and tears

substantial bundle of about 245 letters received, mostly as ambassador at the court of louis xviii in paris and also in the low countries, including during the "hundred days"

The Courts of Europe

napoleon on horseback

with a central plaque depicting Louis XVI surrounded by smaller plaques of ladies of the court.

a napoleon iii style gilt-bronze and porcelain mounted ebonized wood center table third quarter 19th century

centered with a plaque of Louis XVI surrounded by seventeen oval portrait porcelain medallions of ladies of the court.

a napoleon iii gilt-bronze and porcelain mounted ebonized wood center table third quarter 19th century

English Literature, History, Children&#39;s Books & Illustrations

At the age of 19, Jones was posted to Basra in the service of the East India Company, to be assistant factor to the maverick Resident, Samuel Manesty. Apart from a few excursions to Bushehr and Schyras, he remained in the post for a decade (1783-1794). The papers from this first stage of Jones's career, mostly comprising letters to Jones from other East India Company agents in Bushehr, Baghdad, Aleppo, Cyprus and India (Fort St George, Calcutta, Bombay and Surat), reveal the minutiae of the Company's trade between India and the Persian Gulf ports.

At the age of 19, Jones was posted to Basra in the service of the East India Company, to be assistant factor to the maverick Resident, Samuel Manesty. Apart from a few excursions to Bushehr and Schyras, he remained in the post for a decade (1783-1794). The papers from this first stage of Jones's career, mostly comprising letters to Jones from other East India Company agents in Bushehr, Baghdad, Aleppo, Cyprus and India (Fort St George, Calcutta, Bombay and Surat), reveal the minutiae of the Company's trade between India and the Persian Gulf ports. Jones was allowed to supplement his modest Company pay by trading privately. Official transactions for the Company are interspersed with details of Jones's own business ventures. It appears that Jones jointly owned at least one vessel with Manesty; a significant portion of their business involved the transport of Company mail and the horse trade. The letters to Jones (supplemented by his own letterbooks for 1786 to 1791 and accounts) abound with references to the sale or purchase of horses, greyhounds, wine, saffron, morocco leather, tobacco, wheat, barley, seeds, carpets, silk, pewter, lanterns and shoes; more specialised transactions include "fifty white Lamb Skins (for Aprons)" for the Masonic Society at Bombay, sporting guns and dogs, and books, maps and "valuable Manuscripts". Diamonds, emeralds, rubies and pearls require specialist knowledge and their handling by novices can prove dangerous. In one of his numerous letters to Jones, Manesty cautions against buying diamonds in Persia, but advises him nevertheless that "Constantinople is the best market for them, and...Brilliant, Rose and Table Diamonds of the first Water, will all sell at handsome Prices...", and that the emeralds Jones is to purchase on their joint account must be "Table Emeralds, or...pairs of Emeralds of the Shape of Pears, for Ladies Earings, of the old mine, which in these Countries are called Suadee, quite clear, without flaw, of a medium Color, between light and dark Green...". Jones's two letterbooks, containing copies of all his outgoing private and business correspondence between 1786 and 1791, reveal all the intricate details of commercial transactions within Basra and Persia, including deals brokered with local dignitaries. They also trace Jones's increasing familiarity with diplomatic manoeuvres on a local level and its effect on both his local influence and his trade. His continuous immersion in Middle Eastern life is further revealed by frequent references to the language and customs of the area, and to his de facto Armenian wife, Maria Goorjee, with whom he had three children. During Jones's various excursions to Persia, he and Jones exchanged extensive reports on any signs of unrest which might affect their trade, including, for example, the Montifick Arabs' rebellion against the Turkish government in Basra in 1787, the movements of the army of the Shah Jafar Khan and the aftermath of his murder in 1789. News of war and insurrection elsewhere reached Jones through his expanding network of contacts in other trading posts, particularly in India. The Third Anglo-Mysore War of the British against Tipu Sultan was at its height during Jones's last few years in Basra. The military setbacks suffered by the ineffectual governor of Madras, Sir William Medows, and the decisive intervention by Lord Cornwallis in Mysore are a recurring subject for Jones's correspondents. Following a dispute between Manesty and the Jewish community of Basra (about which frequent references are made in his correspondence with Jones), both he and Jones received a suspension order from the Company. Although Manesty was to return to Basra to continue as Resident, Jones returned to England in 1794. The influence and wealth of local knowledge Jones had acquired in Basra prepared him well for his next appointment: Resident in Baghdad from 1798 to 1804. The main object of the Residency was to help counteract the French threat to India via the Red Sea or Persian Gulf. Jones was expected to gather intelligence, exchange information with the government in Bombay and the Secret Committee of the East India Company, and use his influence at the court of Baghdad to persuade the Pasha of the dangers of a French invasion and benefits of an alliance with the East India Company. In Jones's own words, recorded in his letterbook: "...India one day or other will be fought for on the Banks of the Tigris or Euphrates; and the Victory most probably will rest with the Enemy or us, according as this Government shall be managed by us in the Interim – Depend on it...the French Minister at the Porte will be the most powerful Minister there – withdraw this Residency and give a French Agent three Years uncontrolled operation here, supported by his Minister at Constantinople, and you may afterwards whistle for any real political influence or importance with this Government...God forbid this Residency should be withdrawn, until we see more clearly what is to become of the Turkish Empire; and to what points France shall extend her ambition...". Jones's letterbooks for the period, together with letters by other important East India Company agents and diplomats, document the numerous quarrels that beset his Baghdad appointment. Samuel Manesty, still Resident at Basra and deeply resentful of his former assistant's new post, refused to acknowledge his position, intrigued with the Pasha against him, and denounced him to the Secret Committee as ineffectual. The beleaguered Jones, feeling that he was playing "the part of a Scene Shifter in this Comedy", was not even sure under whose authority he operated. In 1801 he proposed that he should be a Consul General, answerable only to the government in London and independent of the Ambassador at Constantinople, then Lord Elgin; the distribution of consular beraats, for example, should be in the hands of the Consul General at Baghdad "and not sold at Constantinople for the emolument of the Ambassador – they must be given to the people, bona fide in employ...". Elgin's letters to Jones, in fact, skirt diplomatic issues and discuss mostly the procurement of antiquities, pearls, turquoises and rubies, fine Arabian horses and Persian carpets. In one letter he asks Jones's opinion on procuring firmans (he was to use a firman from the Porte to justify the removal of the Elgin Marbles). Jones's most frequent correspondents also include the governor at Bombay, Jonathan Duncan, James Willis (writing from India House), Peter Tooke (the Company's agent at Constantinople), Spencer Smith (Elgin's predecessor), John Barker (consul at Aleppo), Sir John Malcolm (envoy to the Persian court), Sir Hugh Inglis and Henry Dundas, as well as his wife Sarah. Their letters (and Jones's replies, copied in his letterbooks) cover all the main concerns relating to Jones's appointment, most notably: news of the progress of war against the French in Egypt, Turkey and the Eastern Mediterranean, the triumphs of Nelson, and the Treaty of Amiens; the changing nature of Jones's role after the retreat of the French from Syria and the consequences of a possible break-up of the Ottoman Empire; military support for the Pasha; the growing power of the Wahabee; intrigues at court (including Jones's plans to replace the Pasha's influential French doctor, the spreading of rumours regarding Jones's relationship with a Muslim woman and discriminatory measures taken against him); the death of the Pasha and its repercussions; trade (mostly the state of the pearl and diamond markets, the supply to India of Turkish copper, and the sale of shawls, jewels and wine; also including a long report by Jones for Sir John Malcolm about Persian trade); diplomatic appointments (including the reception of Sir John Malcolm at Teheran and elaborate preparations for his reception at Baghdad); plague epidemics and experiments in vaccination; other scientific investigations (including a letter by the James Rennell with detailed geographical enquiries); the collection of antiquities and manuscripts; hawking and shooting; the conveyance of mail from Europe to India (and the relative merits of the Baghdad and Aleppo routes) and cyphering methods; and news from India (mainly the fall of Seringapatam and defeat of Tipu Sultan). Long letters from Jones's wife include news of their children's progress, including that of his two illegitimate daughters. News of his son by Maria Goojee reaches Jones from other quarters, mainly Manesty, who accuses him of neglecting his familial duties. Following several disagreements with Ali Pasha, culminating in house arrest, Jones was recalled from Baghdad in 1806. The next year he was appointed envoy-extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to the court of Fat'h Ali, the Shah of Persia. This appointment was made in the light of growing French influence in Tehran, as Jones explained in a position paper ("...Let England once settle a Peace between Persia and Russia, let her Envoy conduct himself with common prudence and the downfall of the French interest at Tahran must follow of course...") He arrived in Tehran in 1809 and was quickly able to negotiate a treaty in which the Shah agreed to prevent any attempted incursion into India via Persia in return for financial and military assistance. His retained copies or drafts of despatches to George Canning, Lord Wellesley, Robert Dundas, and others provide much detail about the diplomatic context of his mission, possible trade links via Trebizond, Persian military strength, political stability, resources, her strategic significance to Britain, the possibility of the East India Company acquiring an island in the Persian Gulf, the actions of the French agent Iouannin, and wider regional intelligence. Following the agreement of a preliminary Anglo-Persian treaty, the Shah sent an envoy, Mirza Abdul Hassan, to London. He was accompanied by Jones's secretary, James Morier, who wrote more than thirty letters to Jones providing a highly detailed account of this mission, Mirza Abdul Hassan's reception in England ("... he was received at Plymouth with a guard of honour, salutes were fired ... nothing pleases him – He wants to be admitted immediately to the King, but all the reasoning in the world, viz. Old established forms, the King's age & Infirmities, nothing will convince him that his King's name is not slighted..."), as well as news of English opinion about Jones's mission – including that "Smirke is making an admirable painting of your presentation to the Shah: you will be mightily pleased with it" (3 January 1810). In relation to Persian domestic affairs, Jones and the British took a keen interest in the Shah's heir apparent, the reform-minded crown prince Abbas Mirza; one of Jones's closest contacts in Persia was Mirza Bozurg, one of the prince's ministers. He also received a constant stream of intelligence from various locations in Persia especially from the Persian Gulf port of Bushehr, where the Company had a permanent trading post. The collection includes letters in Farsi and translations of many firmans and other Persian documents. The correspondence also reveals that Jones was involved in the sale to the Shah of the legendary 36 carat "Hornby diamond". There is considerable correspondence concerning the ongoing Russo-Persian war, primarily conducted by Abbas Mirza from his own capital at Tabriz, including official letters reporting battles intercepted correspondence, and letters by Baron Wrede, the Russian diplomat. Britain had a number of military observers detached to the Persian army and their letters to Jones provide a detailed picture of affairs in the north of the country, as they report skirmishes, defensive work on the Aras river, British assistance in the casting of artillery, mapping in Azerbaijan, and news of the prince ("...he sent each of us this morning a basket of roses and an invitation to visit him – he received us as usual very kindly, and we remained with him about half an hour – the conversation was all about Troops and Kalas...") Jones's mission was strongly opposed by the Governor General of India, the Earl of Minto, both because such involvement in Persia ran counter to his view of Indian frontier policy, and because his favoured emissary to the Shah was another man – General Sir John Malcolm. This tension generated voluminous correspondence (although only a part of Minto's side of the correspondence appears to have survived): the retained copies of Jones's letters show him repeatedly defending his actions ("... If I have ever understood the Objects of England in Persia – one of them was the Expulsion of the French – it has been done, and in such a manner as I venture yet to believe Your Excellency will think creditable to us – a second was Peace – it has been maintained – another of them was Alliance – it has been effected...", 24 April 1809), while Minto's letters show his increasing anger at Jones including, in January 1809, a peremptory order "to quit the Court and territory of Persia in whatever predicament this letter may find you". There is also considerable correspondence between Jones and Malcolm, who was sent by Minto as an envoy to Tehran in 1808 and again in 1810 – when Jones was actually in residence – which shows the uneasy relationship between the two men. Jones was also in regular correspondence with other British diplomatic missions, especially at the Ottoman court. A richly detailed series of letters by Robert Adair, British Ambassador to the Sublime Porte until 1810, and thereafter by his replacement Stratford Canning, partially in cipher, provides news from Istanbul including the peace treaty between Britain and the Sublime Porte (1809), the actions of the Persian diplomats in Istanbul and especially Asker Kahn (previously Persian Ambassador to Paris), Persian politics ("... the whole proceedings of [the Shah's] Government towards you, are false and deceitful from the beginning to the end..."), intelligence from Russia, and of the European war. Jones's other contacts in Turkey included David Morier, who travelled widely throughout turkey and wrote colourful letters about his adventures (including references to other travellers such as Hester Stanhope), his father Isaac.  Jones had regular intelligence from Baghdad through his network of contacts established through his years in the East India Company. Changes of government and bloody disorder were reported in a series of thirty letters by John Hine ("...Ali Pacha is no more. You will recollect our prediction, that God would not permit a man so fond of spilling human blood to die quietly in his bed not has he permitted Ali, for he was assassinated on the 18th Ultimo in the midst of his people, and whilst in the act of prostrating himself at the morning prayer. This affair was planned and executed by five or six of the late Suliman Pacha's Georgians...", September 25, 1807). Hine also reported information about the new Company resident in the city, the writer Claudius James Rich – his collecting habits, eccentricities, relationship with Pasha – and in time Rich himself became a regular correspondent. Jones left Persia in 1811, but the ship carrying his property was wrecked near the Isle of Wight resulting in the loss, among other things, of  "Books and Persian Manuscripts" and "Public Dispatches". His contacts in Persia continued to write with news of Sir Gore Ouseley, the new ambassador, and in the summer of 1811 he received news from a number of correspondents that the Persian army had won a victory over the Russians in which horse artillery supplied by Jones had played a central role: according to Mirza Bozourg, "It is by your means that the Prince and all Persia have been made happy". Nevertheless, Jones soon resigned from the East India Company and never enjoyed another diplomatic posting, although the small quantity of later material shows that he maintained a close interest in the affairs of the region. These papers offer a panoramic vision of the customs, trade, and diplomatic and military upheavals in the Middle East from 1783 to 1811.

his personal and official papers as east india company factor at basra, resident at baghdad and minister plenipotentiary to the persian court, comprising over 3100 items and providing intricately detailed insights into trade and diplomacy in the middle east from 1783 to 1811, and defensive networks raised against the napoleonic threat

Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern

Charles James Fox Series of 47 autograph letters signed, to Thomas Coutts discussing European and domestic politics, especially the French Revolution and subsequent wars with France, expressing his continued hopes for peace and loathing of the administration ("...Mr Pitt can not make a Peace, nor am I very clear that any one could make any that would not be disgraceful. And on the other hand without Peace I see no means of avoiding utter ruin. In short my opinion is that Mr Pitt and the Court have done so much mischief that no men or measures can restore the country to its former state..."...", 5 September 1796), the possibility of an invasion of Britain ("...it will be a very calamitous measure to the Invaders...", 10 February 1797), his opinion of Napoleon ("...The Consul's temper is at best, I fear, rather tyrannical...", 13 December 1802), as well as personal and family affairs such as Coutts's concern over his daughter's presence in revolutionary Paris, with frequent references to Francis Burdett, the radical MP who married Coutts's daughter Sophia, and to mutual acquaintances such as the heavily-indebted R.B. Sheridan ("..."Mr Sheridan's modes of proceeding are so wholly different from those of every other Person that I can not help still hoping that he will act so as to make him less blameable than he now appears to be..."), c.90 pages, several address panels and wrappers, chiefly 4to, c.1789-1806 (many undated) [with:] a list of donations to Fox "Paid Promised & Expected"; printed pamphlet, Substance of the speech of [...] Charles James Fox on moving a new writ for the Borough of Tavistock, March 16 1802. London: 1802, 8vo, inscribed ("Thomas Coutts Esqr from the Author"); E. Armistead, two autograph letters signed, to Thomas Coutts, 4 pages, 4to, 30 December 1798 and 21 August 1800; Elizabeth Fox, 6 autograph letters signed, to Thomas Coutts, 4to and 8vo, 14 pages, 21 August 1800 to 26 October 1819 All bound in a large folio album, crushed brown morocco gilt, with engraved frontispiece portrait A SUBSTANTIAL SERIES OF LETTERS BY THE LEADING OPPOSITION STATESMAN TO THE "KING'S BANKER". Fox's frustration at the course of the long war with France and longing for peace, which are repeated refrains in these letters, caused him to largely retire from public life at points during the later 1790s. These letters run from the increasingly violent turn of the French revolution, through the eruption of European war, the rise of Napoleon, the Peace of Amiens, and the renewal of war. Fox's correspondent in these letters is the banker Thomas Coutts (1735-1822), who took over the eponymous bank in 1778 and transformed it into the most prestigious bank in the country. The spendthrift Fox was, naturally, a client, but these letters reveal a personal relationship: Fox often asks after the health of Coutts's wife and daughters, and updates Coutts on the Parliamentary affairs of his son-in-law Francis Burdett, who began his career as a Foxite before moving to increasingly radical opinions. PROVENANCE: Weetman Pearson, 1st Viscount Cowdray (1856-1927), of Paddockhurst, armorial bookplate; Sotheby's, New York, 5 June 1996, lot 230

View 1 of Lot 309: C.J. Fox | Series of 47 autograph letters signed, to Thomas Coutts, with related material, 1789-1819

c.j. fox | series of 47 autograph letters signed, to thomas coutts, with related material, 1789-1819

Charles James Fox Series of 47 autograph letters signed, to Thomas Coutts discussing European and domestic politics, especially the French Revolution and subsequent wars with France, expressing his continued hopes for peace and loathing of the administration ("...Mr Pitt can not make a Peace, nor am I very clear that any one could make any that would not be disgraceful. And on the other hand without Peace I see no means of avoiding utter ruin. In short my opinion is that Mr Pitt and the Court have done so muchmischief that no men or measures can restore the country to its former state..."...", 5 September 1796), the possibility of an invasion of Britain ("...it will be a very calamitous measure to the Invaders...", 10 February 1797), his opinion of Napoleon ("...The Consul's temper is at best, I fear, rather tyrannical...", 13 December 1802), as well as personal and family affairs such as Coutts's concern over his daughter's presence in revolutionary Paris, with frequent references to Francis Burdett, the radical MP who married Coutts's daughter Sophia, and to mutual acquaintances such as the heavily-indebted R.B. Sheridan ("..."Mr Sheridan's modes of proceeding are so wholly different from those of every other Person that I can not help still hoping that he will act so as to make him less blameable than he now appears to be..."), c.90 pages, several address panels and wrappers, chiefly 4to, c.1789-1806 (many undated) [with:] a list of donations to Fox "Paid Promised & Expected"; printed pamphlet, Substance of the speech of [...] Charles James Fox on moving a new writ for the Borough of Tavistock, March 16 1802. London: 1802, 8vo, inscribed ("Thomas Coutts Esqr from the Author"); E. Armistead, two autograph letters signed, to Thomas Coutts, 4 pages, 4to, 30 December 1798 and 21 August 1800; Elizabeth Fox, 6 autograph letters signed, to Thomas Coutts, 4to and 8vo, 14 pages, 21 August 1800 to 26 October 1819 All bound in a large folio album, crushed brown morocco gilt, with engraved frontispiece portrait A SUBSTANTIAL SERIES OF LETTERS BY THE LEADING OPPOSITION STATESMAN TO THE "KING'S BANKER". Fox's frustration at the course of the long war with France and longing for peace, which are repeated refrains in these letters, caused him to largely retire from public life at points during the later 1790s. These letters run from the increasingly violent turn of the French revolution, through the eruption of European war, the rise of Napoleon, the Peace of Amiens, and the renewal of war. Fox's correspondent in these letters is the banker Thomas Coutts (1735-1822), who took over the eponymous bank in 1778 and transformed it into the most prestigious bank in the country. The spendthrift Fox was, naturally, a client, but these letters reveal a personal relationship: Fox often asks after the health of Coutts's wife and daughters, and updates Coutts on the Parliamentary affairs of his son-in-law Francis Burdett, who began his career as a Foxite before moving to increasingly radical opinions. PROVENANCE: Weetman Pearson, 1st Viscount Cowdray (1856-1927), of Paddockhurst, armorial bookplate; Sotheby's, New York, 5 June 1996, lot 230

View 1 of Lot 215: C.J. Fox | Series of 47 autograph letters signed, to Thomas Coutts, with related material, 1789-1819

Fine Books and Manuscripts, Including Americana. Part 2

Property of a New York Collector Paine, Thomas Autograph letter signed ("Thomas Paine") to the "Citizen Directer" (Philippe-Antoine, Comte Merlin, of Douai), attempting to influence a French judicial review against an American friend 2 1/2 pages (228 x 152 mm, untrimmed) on a bifolium, [Dieppe, France, ca. 1798-1799]; some foxing, short separation at foot of central fold. During the foment of the Quasi-War with France, Citizen Tom Paine writes on behalf of a Connecticut-born merchant-adventurer, Nathan Haley, who in 1797 had captured an American vessel, the Hare, supposedly because it carried British contraband: "It is at the request of several friends that I trouble you with this letter, the purport of which is, to remove an unfavourable impression from your mind with respect to the case of a prize cargo, in which Captain Hayley is concerned. It was condemned at Dieppe as a Prize to the Republic as if it had been a smuggled cargo, and the report was made to you in that manner whilst you were Minister of Justice. The appeal is now depending at Roen. I enter not into the case whether it was right or wrong in Hayley to make a prize of the cargo by the stratagem he employed. He had been cruelly treated by the British whilst he was their prisoner in the American Revolution, and, as I am informed, has been cheated by the London insurencers, {and besides those things the British made no ceremony of seizing American vessels} [phrase in angled brackets is written on the otherwise blank verso of the second sheet and indicated to be inserted by a caret]. I admit the supposition that under a sense of such injuries, he may have sought to redress himself by an act which though it appears right to him, may not appear in the same light to others." While living in Dieppe under the regime of the Directorate (1795–1799), Paine borrowed seven thousand livres from Haley, in part to underwrite the publication of Pacte maritime, Paine’s essay endorsing a compact that would protect the maritime rights and commerce of neutral nations during times of War. Paine’s letter continues, playing to his correspondent’s antipathy to Great Britain by referencing Haley’s delivering of Paine’s famous public letter to George Washington denouncing Jay’s Treaty, as well as his opposition to President Adams's incumbent Federalist party: "I know that his resentment against the British and the British Party in America are high. It was Hayley who carried my letter to America addressed to the ex-President Washington, on the subject of the British [Jay's] Treaty, to be printed. Your colleague Revilliere Lepeaux has read that letter in English; and I recompence the trust which Hayley executed for me by writing you this letter in his behalf. From every thing that I know of the case, and of the political sentiments of Hayley, who has been uniformly attached to the French Revolution, and has been engaged in several broils with the English Party in America [the Federalists] in supporting it, the cargo in question is not a smuggled cargo. The capture was a stratagem, and the tribunal of Dieppe has mistaken the stratagem for smuggling. Whether (as have just said) Hayley has done right or wrong in making the capture is not with me a question; but as he stands exposed to be pursued for it at some future day, by the owners or insurers of the cargo, it is no other than Justice that he be left with the means in his hands to defend himself, or to repair the injury if he has done one. But no error on his part can justify the Judgment at Dieppe. This, Citizen Director is my candid opinion of the case. …" The "stratagem" that Paine refers to was complicated and legally and ethically questionable, although the French courts did side with Haley, who sometimes subscribed his name as a French naval lieutenant, on appeal: "American Nathan Haley (or Halley) was captain of the privateer Entreprenant of Dieppe in March 1797 when he captured the Hare, whose papers also showed a Nathan Haley as captain. Although Charles Cotesworth Pinckney informed Timothy Pickering that the two men were cousins, Rufus King reported to the State Department that Haley had brought his own ship in as a prize. The lower French prize tribunal reached the same conclusion and declared the Hare good prize to the state; the higher tribunal reversed the decision and declared both ship and cargo good prize to Haley" (note to a letter from Fulwar Skipwith to James Madison, 3 March 1804, The Papers of James Madison, Secretary of State Series, ed. Hackett, et al., 6:539–544). Both Paine and Haley returned to America after the election of Thomas Jefferson and the defeat of the Federalist Party. In August 1803, Paine went to see Haley at Stonington, presumably to pay off some of his debt accrued in Dieppe. As Paine biographer John Keane notes, Paine ended up staying with Haley for several months, becoming an "itinerant lecturer on political affairs," prognosticating the imminent conquest of Britain by Napoleon. Haley, who continued to travel between France and the United States, was appointed U.S. consul at Nantes in 1839 (cf. John Keane, Tom Paine: A Political Life, 1995, pp. 489–92).

View 1 of Lot 1151: Paine, Thomas | Did privateer captain Nathan Haley turn in his own ship as a prize to the Directorate?

paine, thomas | did privateer captain nathan haley turn in his own ship as a prize to the directorate?

Charles Cumberworth French, 1811-1852 a clock garniture of cleopatra with her attendants signed: CUMBERWORTH sculptr and inscribed L. Marchand Edtr. The dial signed L. MARCHAND RUE RICHELIEU 57 PARIS and the movement stamped Vor DEWINT Her / 102 / PARIS bronze, dark brown patina and gilt bronze main bronze group: 47 by 44.5 cm., 18 1/2 by 17 1/2 in. main bronze and stand: 69 by 65 cm., 27 1/8 by 25 5/8 in candelabra figures: 94.5 cm., 37 1/4 in. According to Gunnis, Cumberworth appears to have been born in the United States to an English father and French mother. In Paris this proved to be a considerable handicap, for his parentage was not only the cause for his rejection as a prize winner of the prix de rome in 1836, but also for his being awarded only three minor state commissions. Cumberworth's style is deeply indebted to his teacher, James Pradier, with whom he studied from 1829 to 1836. Side-lined by the Beaux-Arts system, Cumberworth naturally aligned himself with the emerging anti-academic sculptors of Romanticism in the 1830s, such as Feuchere, Dantan, Maindron and Barre. In the absence of official patronage, he was one of the first sculptors to create his models exclusively as statuettes and sell them to editeurs, such as Susse. Appropriately his models were also reproduced in England in parian ware by Copeland. The French catalogue of the 1862 International Exhibition records Leon Marchand as a fabricant des bronzes founded in 1820. The artistic director was M.Piat and they offered complete interiors, candelabras en fer forge et repouse, chenets and cheminees. At the 1862 International Exhibition, Marchand exhibited a fisherboy by Schoenewerk (see lot 199) and a group of Cleopatra by Cumberworth, augmentation parfaitement reussie. Related literature: Gunnis, p.118; Un age d'or, p.519 As Jean-Auguste Barre sent his last exhibit to the Paris Salon in 1886, he could look back with pride on one of the century's longest and most successful careers in portrait sculpture. From his debut in 1831 he specialised in portraiture. Under the July Monarchy, he received royal commissions both large and small, such as the effigy of the duchesse d'Orleans, Louis-Philippe's mother, and the unofficial statuette of Ferdinand-Philippe, duc d'Orleans (lot 240). His popularity grew under the new regime of the Second Empire (lots 236 & 243) and he made over twenty-five portraits of Napoleon III alone. In retrospect, however, Barre would surely have considered his involvement in the vogue for romantic bronze portrait statuettes, which flourished in the decade of the 1830s, as his most innovative and original contribution to French sculpture. This collection of works by Barre (lots 233-246), which is offered by descendants of the sculptor himself, represents the most comprehensive group of his work to have appeared on the market. The highlights of the collection are the seven bronze portrait statuettes of famous theatrical stars, a member of the French royal family and one of a family friend. Together they provide an insight into Barre's important role in promoting the fashion for the portrait statuette. The greatest appeal of these portrait statuettes today is that they transport us back in time, 170 years, to a Parisian society centred on the court of Louis-Philippe, the 'citizen king'; a society passionate about the theatre and fascinated by the celebrities of the beau monde. In an age before photography, statuettes of theatrical stars were promoted as an essential accessory of the most fashionable salons. In 1848, The Illustrated London News reproduced a scene which must have been familiar to Parisian high society for over a decade (see illustration), in which the appreciation of a statuette of a theatrical starlet is seen as a paradigm of good taste. The emergence of this genre occurred as a result of several technical, aesthetic and commercial changes which coincided, after the Revolution of 1830, to give sculptors both the means and the market essential to the promotion of the statuette. In this case, the means was the development of more efficient and more accurate processes for casting with sand moulds, rather than lost-wax. The ability to separate a model into component parts, which could be cast individually to greater precision and then joined together before finishing, allowed foundries to produce high quality repeats of a sculptor's models, known as multiples. When the first portrait statuettes were shown at the Salon around 1833 this technical process was being perfected by foundries such as Eck et Durand (see lots 239, 240, 246). The creation of statuettes with a wide popular appeal, exemplified by Barre's models of ballerinas, gave an early impetus to the commercialisation of bronze casting, which was later to be extensively exploited by large foundries such as Barbedienne and Susse. For Barre, the crisp detail achieved in these early sand casts suited his natural artistic style, which was grounded in the art of the engraver, since both his father, Jacques-Jean (1793-1855) and his younger brother, Desire-Albert (1818-1878), were distinguished graveurs generaux des Monnaies, who are remembered as the designers of the first French and Greek stamps. Barre himself remained closely involved in these activities. Accurate detail was also essential for his statuettes to give an exact reproduction of his subjects' costume, making them immediately recognisable to his patrons. Thus, in his statuette of Marie Taglioni, (lot 239) the ballerina is clearly wearing the costume designed for her by E. Lami for the ballet La Sylphide; in his Fanny Elssler (lot 245), her Spanish costume, worn when she danced her famous Cachucha, would have been unmistakable. The descriptions of the individual bronzes that follow rely heavily on the enthusiastic accounts of the dancers written by Theophile Gautier in his press reviews of the ballets, because his passages give us a unique contemporary insight into their every gesture and detail. Nowhere does this better animate the statuette for a modern audience than in the example of the Indian dancer, Amany (lot 246). Leroy-Jay Lemaistre has noted (op.cit.) that the vogue for the bronze portrait statuette replaced an earlier fashion for biscuit porcelain figurines. She has further demonstrated how this was part of a wider aesthetic move in interior decoration towards a taste for more sombre furniture inspired by the Renaissance. In this context bronze statuettes finished a patine florentine became an integral part of the modern salon under the July Monarchy. Garnitures, such as the impressive example by Barre's contemporary, Charles Cumberworth (lot 232) were the most elaborate form of this. From 1847 Antoine-Louis Barye's catalogues offers advice to patrons on which bronzes were suitable for 'les pendules de bureau ou de chambre a coucher, et ceux ... pour les pendules de salon'. Barre's outstanding bronze group, Mary of Burgundy hawking, is a further example of the influence of this aesthetic in stimulating a trend in sculpture and painting for medieval subjects, known as le style troubadour (see note to lot 237). The portrait statuette was more than a fashion accessory. It flourished during the 1830s because its subject-matter reflected the immediate, every day interests of the increasingly affluent bourgeoisie. Thus, Barre was able to exploit the popular concern over Marie Taglioni's departure from Paris in 1837, for a three year sojourn in Russia, by distributing a bronze statuette of the ballerina in her most memorable role. On the tragically early death of one of Taglioni's greatest followers, Emma Livry, Barre's statuette was a poignant reminder to her fans of the beauty of her dancing in the ballet, Le Papillon. The portrait statuette was easily accessible both in terms of its theme and in its availability. Gautier welcomed the fact that Barre's Fanny Elssler was available to buy at both the Rittner (a print dealer) and the Susse shops. A sculptor could produce his models and clients could buy them without any of the pretensions of the Salon system of medals and awards. The true portrait statuette was not a commercialised reduction of a life-size figure (often initially exhibited in plaster at the Salon), nor was it a maquette whose ultimate expression would be as a marble statue. The statuette was an end in itself, a new genre that did not depend on the Salon for its justification. It is this element of anti-academicism, combined with a focus on the representation of contemporary personalities in precisely observed contemporary dress, especially the exotic or personal (such as Barre's intimate study of Mme Deveria lot 233), which aligns the portrait statuette with similar concerns within the Romantic movement. Related literature: Leroy-Jay Lemaistre (1986), pp.254-261; Leroy-Jay Lemaistre (1991), 281-285; Guest

charles cumberworth

English Literature, History, Children's Books & Illustrations

i) Bathurst family correspondence, including a group of 10 letters to Lady Georgiana Bathurst by friends and family members including Lady Georgina Lennox, Lady Sarah Lennox, and Lady Charlotte Greville, all written from Brussels at the time of the Waterloo campaign, describing the the atmosphere in Brussels immediately before Napoleon’s invasion, WITH AN EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT OF THE DUCHESS OF RICHMOND'S BALL ON THE EVE OF THE BATTLE OF QUATRE BRAS (“...We had a great Ball last night & fancy the horror of hearing this news in the middle of it & of seeing all one’s friends fly to the right & to the left...”) and news of the unfolding campaign (“...The Prussians are come up, so if Bony is not soon annihilated I shall be surprised...”), the letters written in the aftermath of Waterloo being dominated by news of wounded and dead officers including Alexander Gordon, Lord Uxbridge, and many others (“...L[ad]y C[aroline] Lamb is arrived to nurse Col. Ponsonby who is doing on very well but she will hurt him I sh[oul]d fear. The surgeon told her the best thing she could do would be to hold her tongue...”, 3 July), the pitiful sight of the huge numbers of wounded (“...I long to nurse even the poor privates...”), and the return of Wellington (“...The Duke arrived Monday & went to Court today ... The King gave him a superb star and jewel of the St Esprit which they say is worth 500,000 Livres...”), 50 pages, 4to and 8vo, Brussels, 9 June to 4 August 1815 (where dated)

i) Bathurst family correspondence, including a group of 10 letters to Lady Georgiana Bathurst by friends and family members including Lady Georgina Lennox, Lady Sarah Lennox, and Lady Charlotte Greville, all written from Brussels at the time of the Waterloo campaign, describing the the atmosphere in Brussels immediately before Napoleon’s invasion, WITH AN EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT OF THE DUCHESS OF RICHMOND'S BALL ON THE EVE OF THE BATTLE OF QUATRE BRAS (“...We had a great Ball last night & fancy the horror of hearing this news in the middle of it & of seeing all one’s friends fly to the right & to the left...”) and news of the unfolding campaign (“...The Prussians are come up, so if Bony is not soon annihilated I shall be surprised...”), the letters written in the aftermath of Waterloo being dominated by news of wounded and dead officers including Alexander Gordon, Lord Uxbridge, and many others (“...L[ad]y C[aroline] Lamb is arrived to nurse Col. Ponsonby who is doing on very well but she will hurt him I sh[oul]d fear. The surgeon told her the best thing she could do would be to hold her tongue...”, 3 July), the pitiful sight of the huge numbers of wounded (“...I long to nurse even the poor privates...”), and the return of Wellington (“...The Duke arrived Monday & went to Court today ... The King gave him a superb star and jewel of the St Esprit which they say is worth 500,000 Livres...”), 50 pages, 4to and 8vo, Brussels, 9 June to 4 August 1815 (where dated) [bound together with:] other letters to family members including: two autograph letters by Georgiana Bathhurst to her mother, Lady Bathurst, with news of English society in France after Waterloo, 15 pages, 4to, [October 1815]; George (“Beau”) Brummell, autograph letter signed, to Lady Bathurst, complaining that “the odious woman” has not yet sent the promised additional ticket to her masked ball and assuring her that if it does not arrive “I will burn down the House before the hour of Masks”, 1 page, 4to, n.d.; an anonymous but apparently eyewitness account of the meeting between Sir Henry Bunbury, Lord Keith, and Napoleon, at Torbay, AT WHICH NAPOLEON WAS INFORMED THAT HE WOULD BE EXILED TO ST HELENA, with corrections, 2 pages, folio, [c. 31 July 1815], and a brief note conveying news of Napoleon’s surrender; 24 later letters to Lady Georgina Bathurst including three by Lady Augusta de Ameland (companion of the Duke of Sussex) attempting to have her daughter accepted at the prestigious Almack’s Club, letters to her as a train-bearer at the coronation of Queen Adelaide and her eight-page autograph account of the ceremony, and letters as Lady of the Bedchamber to HRH the Duchess of Gloucester discussing such subjects as the death of Wellington and the impact on Queen Victoria of the death of Prince Albert; altogether 53 numbered items, c.167 pages, 4to and 8vo, bound in a modern half russet morocco volume, 4toii) Lady Emily Charlotte Bathurst, autograph manuscript diary (“..News from Lord Wellington came of the Battle of Orthez last night ... Poor March is wounded...”, 20 March 1814), 29 pages, 8vo, 1 January to 30 April 1814iii) Annuaire présenté au gouvernement ... pour l’an 1809. Paris, 1808, Imperial binding in green morocco gilt with monogram (L), inscribed by Lord March and also by his sister Emily Bathurst (“given to me by March Jany 1816. Taken from the Library at St Cloud. 1815”)iv) Henry F. Ponsonby (1825-1895), notes on the Battle of Waterloo, c.60 pages, oblong 8vo, mid-19th century

letters to members of the bathurst family, most notably during the waterloo campaign, with three other volumes, the collection comprising:

Treasures

the handle of rock crystal overlaid with cut and engraved gold, the cap formed as a many petalled flower above a band of fuchsia flowers, the upright collar applied with engraved leaves and flowers, the rectangular matrix engraved closely in Persian script, reading 'jawhar-e a’yineh-ye ma’delat parani hami-ye din-e masiha’i bargozideh-ye arkan-e saltanat pasandideh-ye jomhure-e mamlekat-e napoleon-e seyyom shahanshah-e keyvan bargah-e ahl-e molk-e france 1854, translating to 'The essence of the mirror that spreads justice, protector of Christian religion, the choice of the pillars of sovereignty, admiration of the populace of the country, Napoleon III, the king of the seventh heaven, the court of the people of the land of France 1854'

a gold-mounted rock-crystal desk seal, probably persian, 1854 | a gold-mounted rock-crystal desk seal, probably persian, 1854

Fine Books from a Distinguished Private Library

Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen Grundsätze der höhern Kriegskunst und Beyspiele ihrer zweckmässigen Anwendung für die Generale der Österreichischen Armee. Vienna: Aus der Kaiserl. Königl. Hof-und Staatsdruckerey, 1808 First illustrated edition, folio (388 x 270mm.), 25 HAND-COLOURED FOLDING ENGRAVED MAPS by Johann Renard, Kilian Ponheimer, and Anton & Hieronymus Benedict, one with two overlays, and four with a single overlay, near-contemporary red straight-grain morocco gilt in neoclassical style, covers framed by three decorative gilt rolls and alternating palmette and tulip tools, spine gilt with drum-and-weapon ornaments, green morocco labels, gilt-rolled turn-ins, blue marbled endpapers, gilt edges This warfare manual for Austrian generals was written by one of that country’s most successful strategists, and this handsomely bound copy was owned by two generations of generals in the imperial army, the first of whom was promoted to Adjutant General by the author. Archduke Charles of Austria, Duke of Teschen (1771-1847), is sometimes one of the greatest generals in Europe; following his successes in the French Revolutionary Wars, Charles was named Imperial Field Marshal and President of the Court War Council by the emperor in 1801, and later that year also became Minister of War and Navy. Between 1801 and 1805, he set out to reorganize and reform the army for the challenges it would face in the new century; the present book arose from his efforts. First published in 1806, the text here draws heavily on the archduke’s strategies for his successful campaigns, and urges commanders to secure their own troops before turning their attention to attacking the enemy. The three sections of “Principles” address the fundamentals of offensive and defensive strategies, with much emphasis placed on defensive positions, arsenals, fortifications, protection of supply lines, and winter quarters. This illustrated edition was issued specifically for the use of Austrian generals in the Napoleonic Wars; the beautifully realized maps, printed on special blue paper and with careful hand colour, assist commanders in visualising the recommended fortifications and troop movements. Louis Charles Folliot de Crenneville (1763-1840), was a French émigré with a distinguished record of service. He received the Knight’s Cross of the Military Order of Maria Theresa for his service against his former countrymen in the Napoleonic Wars, and rose to the high rank of General of the Cavalry. He passed this volume on to his son, Franz Folliot de Crenneville (1815-88), an artillery general who served as Supreme Chamberlain to Emperor Franz Josef after retiring from the military. For his service to the emperor, he was elevated to the nobility as a Count. REFERENCES: Pohler 3:599 PROVENANCE: Louis Charles Folliot de Crenneville, ownership inscription; Franz Carl Graf Folliot de Crenneville, bookplate and library shelf label

View 1 of Lot 24: Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen | Grundsätze der höhern Kriegskunst und Beyspiele ihrer zweckmässigen Anwendung für die Generale der Österreichischen Armee, Vienna, 1808

archduke charles, duke of teschen | grundsätze der höhern kriegskunst und beyspiele ihrer zweckmässigen anwendung für die generale der österreichischen armee, vienna, 1808

A highly important Russian malachite topped gilt-bronze and patinated bronze mahogany gueridon table attributed to Heinrich Gambs (1765-1831) from a design by Andrej Voronichin (1759-814), St. Petersburg, 1803

a highly important russian malachite topped gilt-bronze and patinated bronze mahogany gueridon table attributed to heinrich gambs (1765-1831) from a design by andrej voronichin (1759-814), st. petersburg, 1803 part of a furniture suite presented by the russian tsar alexander i to the prussian king friedrich wilhelm iii and queen luise with an inset circular malachite top with in a gilt-bronze guilloche enclosing flowerheads, above an egg-and-dart-border, the tripod supports surmounted by a lioness mask in drapery and scrolling foliage, the inward curved legs mounted with a gilt-bronze female mask with patinated bronze bat wings, the rear of the legs applied with brass strips, on leaf-cast claw and ball feet concealing castors 82cm. high, 55cm. diameter; 2ft. 8din., 1ft.

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres French, 1780-1867 portrait du sculpteur henri-joseph rutxhiel signed and dated a Rome 1809 c.l. pencil on paper 17.4 cm., 7 in. (diameter) Provenance: Henri-Joseph Rutxhiel (until 1837) Mme Henry-Etienne Petry, nee Hortense Rutxhiel (inherited from the above) Mme Vincent-Francois Duguey, nee Amelie Rutxhiel (step-daughter of the above) Lucien Duguey, Paris (son of the above) John Goelet, New York (purchased in Paris in 1961 from the family of the sitter) Sale: Christie's, New York, 25 October 1984, lot 310 Exhibited: Paris, Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Ingres, 1867, no. 388 Cambridge, Massachusetts, Fogg Art Museum, Ingres Centennial Exhibition, 1967, no. 16 Literature: P.-J. Goetghebuer, 'Notice sur Henri-Joseph Rutxhiel', special print run of the article in Annales de la Societe des Beaux-Arts de Gand, Ghent, 1851, p. 7, with a lithograph (detail) as the frontispiece Charles Blanc, Ingres, Paris, 1870, p. 239 Henri Delaborde, Ingres, Paris 1870, p. 310, no. 410 Henry Jouin, Musee de portraits d'artistes, Paris, 1888, p. 171 Henry Lapauze, Les dessins de J-A-D Ingres du Musee de Montauban, Paris, 1901, p. 268, mentioned after the lithograph by Fontallard Thieme und Becker, Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Kunstler, vol. XXIX, Leipzig, 1935, p. 242 Hans Naef, 'Eighteen Portrait Drawings by Ingres', Master Drawings, vol. IV, 3, New York, 1966, no. 4, plate 3, pp. 260-61 & 280-81 Agnes Mongan & Hans Naef, Ingres Centennial Exhibition, Greenwich, Connecticut, 1967, no. 16, illustrated Marjorie B. Cohn, 'Technical Appendix', Ingres Centennial Exhibition, Greenwich, Connecticut, 1967, pp. 243-45 Marjorie B. Cohn, 'The Original Format of Ingres' Portrait Drawings', Colloque Ingres, Montauban, 1969, p. 19 Agnes Mongan, 'Ingres as a Great Draughtsman', Colloque Ingres, Montauban, 1969, pp. 141 & 147, fig. 12 Hans Naef, Die Bildniszeichnungen von J.-A.-D. Ingres, Bern, 1977, no. 53, vol. IV, pp. 100 & 101, illustrated & vol. I, pp. 184-188, illustrated Henri-Joseph Rutxhiel was born in Lierneux in Belgium in 1775. He began life as a shepherd boy, when his talent was spotted by Messrs de Thier and de Fromenteau de Hodimont, who chanced upon his work on a hunting outing. They recommended him to the Ecole centrale in Liege, where he received his first training under Dewandre. Soon afterwards, the Prefect of Ourthe recommended him to the sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon in Paris. An ambitious student, Rutxhiel sought permission to frequent the studio of Jacques-Louis David, the court painter to Napoleon. David made Rutxhiel his personal protege, supporting and encouraging him. In 1807, the precocious young sculptor entered the competition for the Prix de Rome, winning second place, and the following year, in 1808, won the Grand Prix with his Dedale et Icare prets a se sauver du labyrinthe, the subject selected by the Institut imperial for the sculpture prize that year. The Prix de Rome success paved the way for Rutxhiel's departure for Rome, where, as winner of the Grand Prix, he was entitled to spend the next four years at the Academie des Beaux-Arts de France in the Villa Medicis. It was here that he met Ingres, also a holder of the Prix de Rome, an introduction that resulted in his sitting for the present work. Rutxhiel would not serve his full term in Rome, however. He was called back to Paris to execute a statue of the Emperor, commissioned for the Banque de France. Napoleon was delighted with the result, commissioning Rutxhiel to make a bust of the Roi de Rome, in return for which he was appointed sculptor to the Imperial Heir. Rutxhiel went on to receive numerous public commissions in France, but also from foreign courts and dignitaries, including Tzar Alexander, the Duke of Wellington, and the Austrian Emperor. He also became a regular exhibitor at the Paris Salon. His 1814 entry, Zephyr enlevant Psyche, was purchased by the Maison du Roi and is now in the collection of the Musee de Versailles. Under Louis XVIII, he was appointed sculptor to the duc de Berry and the duc d'Angouleme, and received the Legion d'Honneur. Rutxhiel flourished under the new monarchy, sculpting busts of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette, destined for the Palais Bourbon, and of the duc d'Orleans. The present work exemplifies Ingres' sensitive understanding of human expression, as well as his meticulous draughtsmanship. The portrait, executed just as Rutxhiel was beginning to taste success at the dawn of his illustrious career, shows him as a dashing young man, brimming with ambition, his eyes trained confidently on the viewer. Rutxhiel's and Ingres' friendship would surely have blossomed in Rome, had it not been for the young Belgian's premature return to Paris. The drawing was made into a lithograph by Henri-Gerard Fontallard (after 1837); a second lithograph, showing only a detail of the finished composition, was made by an unknown hand prior to 1851 (illustrated in Goetghebuer).

jean-auguste-dominique ingres

Property of a New York Collector Nicholson, John Archive of 33 autograph letters signed ("Jno. Nicholson"), most to either Sharp Delancy or William Sansom 33 autograph letters signed, together with an autograph receipt signed and a transcribed deed signed ("Jno. Nicholson"), the whole totaling 36 pages (various sizes), various places, 1786–1795, many letters with integral autograph address leaves; scattered browning, fold separations, and seal tears, but generally very good. John Nicholson (1765–1852) was a Welsh-born émigré to Pennsylvania who engaged in a variety of business ventures in revolutionary-era Philadelphia. In 1778 he was appointed clerk to the Board of Treasury of the Continental Congress. In 1781, he accepted a position in Pennsylvania settling the outstanding accounts of the Pennsylvania line. His good performance brought him appointment as state Comptroller General in 1782. He was empowered to collect and receive taxes and to liquidate the estates of those convicted of treason (Loyalists). In 1793, he was impeached for personally speculating in federal securities with state funds. He was acquitted but forced to resign because he was by this time a large public defaulter. In 1795, he joined Robert Morris and James Greenleaf in creating the North American Land Company, which invested in six million acres of lands in six states. Stung by the worldwide panic of 1797 and the Napoleonic Wars (which drove down the European market for speculating in American lands), Morris and Nicholson were each imprisoned for debt. Nicholson died in 1800, more than four million dollars in debt. His estate was not satisfactorily settled for over a half-century, and required the creation of a special Nicholson Court of Pleas in 1843. Several of Nicholson’s letters were written to Sharp Delancy, a Pennsylvania Customs Collector. On October 4, 1786, Comptroller General Nicholson threatened Delancy with legal action if he did not properly carry out the unpleasant duties of his office: "The exigency of the case makes it necessary that the debts due to your office should be paid into the Treasury as soon as the law directs they should be paid. You will therefore be charged and made to account for and pay all monies … as if the same was collected whether you may have received it or not at the time the law makes you chargeable with and accountable for the same … I write this that you may take the steps to compel payment of duties from those in arrears." On 16 July 16 1787, Nicholson again instructed Delancy to proceed "with decision and vigor to recover all bonds that are due, 'tis a pity there are so many outstanding." The most fascinating and extensive grouping of letters are addressed to William Sansom, a director of the Bank of Pennsylvania and a Philadelphia land developer. He purchased Robert Morris’s Philadelphia mansion at sheriff’s sale, and converted the lands into the first speculative housing development in American history, paving the main road (Sansom Street, now Jewelers’ Row) himself. The letters document Nicholson’s descent into debt and legal difficulties. Most show Nicholson desperately fending off his impatient creditors. On 31 December 1794, he writes, "I am not insensible to the approaching pay day of my notes to you. … I am doing all I can to face them. Whether I shall accomplish it, I cannot yet say. If you can point me out any assistance in the business I pray you do, for I need it." And on 27 February 1795: "I now feel confident that I shall tomorrow or Monday meet your wishes in the 15000 Dollars but do not make engagements or reliance thereon. You know I have been disappointed here before. Hope I will not again." His difficulty, as he explains on 10 March 1795, was that most of his debts were secured by other debts: "I declare to you my regret at the situation I am in. I declare to you that it hath been, and is yet, out of my power to discharge this firm without prejudice to others who hold my paper also being over owing to my being disappointed in the receipt of money which was due to me. …" Litigation against Nicholson and Robert Morris had erupted by 24 June 1795, when Nicholson protests losing his place on "the change." On September 26 of that year, he revealed that "Mr. Morris told me yesterday he thought he would be able to pay you his notes shortly, say a few days. If so this will settle one difficulty as to the balance due. …" But in a postscript to his letter of 23 November 1795he admits, "I called on R. M. but he was out & I have not seen him since." Such excuses permeate the correspondence. An example of a full letter, addressed to Sansom and the other directors of the Bank of Pennsylvania on 10 March 1795, offers further insight into Nicholson’s slick ways and the manner in which his outstanding debts were all tied into reckless real estate speculation. "I find myself the payer of 6000 Dollars of my notes lieing over at the Penna Bank at the same time that I declare to you my regret—at the situation I am in, I declare to you that it hath not been and is yet out out [sic] of my power to discharge this sum without prejudice to others who hold my paper also lieing over owing to my being disappointed in the receipt of money which was due to me—I would propose however to pay 1/6th and renew the remainder at 60 days with the same indorser, before the end of which time I hope to regain my wonted punctuality—and as I do not wish full credit to be attatched to my name until it deserves it I propose to add any security that may be deemed adequate in any part of my Estate—which consists of unseated lands in Penna or almost any other state for the thereof." There is also one letter addressed to Philadelphia merchant Clement Biddle on 10 October 1787, interesting insofar as it involves the famous Yankee-Pennamite land dispute in northeastern Pennsylvania. Nicholson had speculated in lands held under Pennsylvania title in the Wyoming Valley. Those lands, however, had been claimed under Connecticut title based on its colonial charter and the Indian purchase of the Susquehannah Land Company in 1754. Armed conflict between rival claimants ensued in the early 1770s and again in the mid-1780s, prompting Pennsylvania officials to call out the state militia. Here, Nicholson wishes Biddle to inform him "your proposals what is the lowest rate at which you would furnish from 80 to 100 militia with rations the same to be sett in Berks or Northd and Luzerne Counties." Luzerne County, centered on Wilkes-Barre, was the focus of conflict between Yankees and Pennamites. Many years later, a settlement was finally brokered by the state government allowing Connecticut settlers to purchase Pennsylvania title to the lands they had improved at reduced rates, offering Pennsylvania speculators equivalent lands in the western part of the state. Sotheby's is grateful to Seth Kaller for his assistance with this description. PROVENANCE: The Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village (Christie's New York, 19 June 2007, lot 286)

View 1 of Lot 1150: Nicholson, John | A reckless land speculator in eighteenth-century America

nicholson, john | a reckless land speculator in eighteenth-century america

Collection of a Connoisseur: History in Manuscript, Part 2

French History A collection of documents, comprising: Andre Garnier. Passport signed, 20 April 1780 Louis XVI. Document signed with secretarial signature, 30 August 1788 [Louis XVI] Summary expenses of the King's household whilst a prisoner at Tuileries, 1791 Louis XVIII. Document signed with a secretarial signature, 27 June 1814 Details sur la séance qui a eu lieu à la chambre des pairs, concernant Le procès du Maréchal Ney. Sa condamnation à la peine du mort...Bulletin de la Séance du 6 Décembre 1815", Paris: 7 December 1815, 4 pages, 4to, "No.8--et dernier [bulletin]", with the Royal emblem of the crowned fleur-de-lys in the top right hand corner. Talleyrand. Passport countersigned by Talleyrand, for John Wilson Croker, 7 July 1819 King Louis Philippe. Autograph letter as Duc d'Orleans, in the third person, 11 July 1818 King Louis Philippe. Autograph letter signed, 30 May 1830 Marie Amelie de Bourbon, consort of Louis Philippe, autograph letter signed, 4 August 1858 Prince Jerome Napoleon, letter signed, 29 July 1879 Series of four carte-de-visite photographs of the French Imperial family; also a carte-de-visite of the family of Louis XVIII Marshal Ney was arguably Napoleon's greatest general, dubbed by him "le brave des braves". When Napoleon returned from Elba to launch his final campaign, "The Hundred Days" of 1815, Ney promised the restored monarchy that he would not join him. However he remained loyal to Napoleon despite a promise to Louis XVIII, and personally led the doomed cavalry charge at Waterloo in June. He was arrested and tried by the Chamber of Peers (4-6 December) and, on 7 December, he was executed by firing squad in Paris near the Luxembourg Gardens. Ney's defence team had proposed to claim that Ney was no longer a French citizen and that the court could not try him. On the third page, Ney is quoted declaring: "Oui, messieurs, je suis français, et je mourrai comme tel. On n'a pas voulu entendre mes défenseurs; je les remercie de ce qu'ils ont fait pour moi, et de ce qu'ils pourraient faire encore; mais j'aime mieux n'être pas défendu que de l'être imparfaitement; je ferai comme Moreau, j'en appelerai à l'Europe et à la postérité".

View 1 of Lot 91: French History | A collection of documents, 1780-1879

french history | a collection of documents, 1780-1879

History in Manuscript: Letters and Documents from a Distinguished Collection

Napoleon I--Marriage Collection of nine letters and papers relating to Napoleon's second marriage to the Archduchess Maria Louisa includes a letter signed by Cardinal Fesch testifying that he has published he banns in Paris and that the proxy marriage in Vienna may properly take place, a statement by Count Otto de Moslay the French ambassador to Vienna, saying that the marriage between Napoleon and Josephine has been annulled and declared invalid by the Catholic church, a certified copy of a letter by Francis I stating that there are no obstacles to the marriage, and two letters signed by Metternich to the Archbishop of Vienna written after the proxy marriage had taken place, reassuring him about the statement of Cardinal Fesch, 12 pages, folio, Vienna and Paris, 26 February to 17 March 1810 This correspondence relates to the necessity of establishing the legality of Napoleon's proposed marriage to the Archduchess. An heir was needed for the Empire, and the proper formalities were hurried over in order to achieve this. The church expressed considerable doubts about the acceptability of the annulment of Napoleon's first marriage, so an ecclesiastical court was brought together and eventually decided in Napoleon's favour. PROVENANCE: Sotheby's London, 28 May 1992, lot 188

View 1 of Lot 109: Napoleon I--Marriage | Collection of documents relating to Napoleon's marriage to Marie Louisa, 1810

napoleon i--marriage | collection of documents relating to napoleon's marriage to marie louisa, 1810

Napoleon I--Lewis Gideon Autograph letter signed, to Captain John Pillon care of Messrs Cox & Co., Craigs Court, Charing Cross, London, giving a detailed description of the exhumation of Napoleon's body on 15 October 1840 with full Anglo-French military honours prior to the new coffin's departure for France, 4 pages, 4to, integral address panel, St Helena, 30 October 1840, markings from adhesive tape, restored, some loss of text “…WHEN THEY WERE OPENED, THE BODY APPEARED PERFECT, THE COUNTENANCE VERY LITTLE ALTERED TO WHICH IT WAS WHEN LAID THERE 19 YEARS SINCE, THE HAND QUITE FINE.” This account describes the complex exhumation of Napoleon, involving French and British parties, that commenced at midnight on the 14 October 1840, with the body being transferred to the Belle Poule on the afternoon of the 15th. It was a formal and ceremonious affair, as well as a complicated logistical procedure, where the many layers of his grave and the multiple nested coffins of mahogany, lead and tin were carefully removed. Following extensive lobbying and debate, the return of Napoleon to France was decided in May 1840, greatly encouraged by Adolphe Thiers and King Louis-Philippe. Napoleon was buried at Les Invalides on the 15 December. Written by Lewis Gideon, formerly Lewis Gideon Solomon, who was part of a prominent St Helenan family, and so presumably carried by special private arrangement with a ship's Captain. He was the brother of Saul Solomon, the politician that founded the Cape Argus newspaper and long term MP for the Parliament of the Cape of Good Hope. PROVENANCE: Cavendish Philatelic Auctions, 11 September 2013, lot 89

View 1 of Lot 117: Napoleon I--Lewis Gideon | Letter describing the exhumation of Napoleon's body, 1840

napoleon i--lewis gideon | letter describing the exhumation of napoleon's body, 1840

Shrubland Park, Suffolk, England - Country House Sale

travels into poland, russia, sweden and denmark…the fourth edition. 1792, 4 vol. (of 5, lacking vol. 2), folding maps, contemporary half calf, lacking vol. 2, bindings slightly worn—[russian visit] an account of the visit of his royal highness the prince regent and … the emperor of russia and the king of prussia to the university of oxford in june mdccxiv. oxford, 1815, folio, engraved frontispiece and plates, extra illustrated with portraits pasted in, calf backed boards, upper cover detached, binding worn, somewhat spotted and soiled--buchanan, sir g. my mission to russia. 1923, 2 vol., 8vo, maps and illustrations, original green cloth—paléologue, m. an ambassador’s memoires. 1924, mixed edition, 3 vol., 8vo, illustrations, original cloth—[anon.] russian court memoires 1914-16. 1917, 8vo, illustrations, green cloth—george, h. e. napoleon’s invasion of russia. 1899, 8vo, illustrations, red cloth—lermontov, m. a hero of our time. moscow, 1951, 4to, illustrations, original cloth, dust jacket, dust jacket torn with some loss—turgenev, i. a nest of the gentry. moscow, 1951, 4to, illustrations, original cloth, dust jacket, dust jacket slightly worn—[ibid.]. fathers and sons. moscow, 1951, 4to, illustrations, original cloth; and 4 others (19)

L12408

(i) List of 10 guards positions surrounding the prisoners' compound  of Longwood and their standing orders, together with a sketch map of the compound showing the numbered positions, 5 pages, 4to, April 1816, first bifolium split at folds; (ii) "Nominal List of the persons composing the Establishment at Longwoods, 1 Feby 1818", beginning "General Buonaparte" and also listing servants, 3 pages, folio, damp stained [bound with:] (iii) Alexander Beatson, former Governor of St Helena, on the problem of rats on the island, 3 pages, 4to, Knowle Farm near Tunbridge Wells, 10 September 1815; (iv) Engelbert Lutyens, orderly officer, autograph letter signed, to Major G. Gorrequer, reporting on Napoleon's movements, 3 pages, 8vo, 20 December 1820'; (v) Three fictional dialogues between a mother and her daughter describing life in St Helena, entitled "The Daily Difficulties of Camp", "Employments in Camp", and "On the Difficulties of Building", 19 pages in total, plus blanks, 4to, 1815; (vi) John Stokoe, autograph letter signed, to Admiral Sir P. Malcolm, enclosing copies of letters relating to his petition to have his court-martial for unauthorised interviews with Napoleon on St Helena in 1819 overturned, in total 8 pages, 1 February 1838

collection of documents relating to napoleon's imprisonment on st helena, comprising:

19th Century Furniture and Decorative Art

serial number 9778, the keyboard lid with a metallic plaque cast to the effigy of Emperor Alexander II, with from left to right: his Coronation Medal with profile portrait, the State Seal, and his personal coat of arms, brass inlaid inscription Médailles aux Expositions Universelles de Paris et Londres / H. Bord / Paris.

decorated by David Sevre, the circular top inset with a central porcelain plaque painted with a portrait of Louis XVI, the border with eighteen small oval porcelain plaques, each with a portrait of a Court beauty.

a napoleon iii gilt-bronze and sevres-style porcelain mounted circular center tablethird quarter 19th century

The Ricky Jay Collection

(Automata, Chess) Eight works on Wolfgang von Kempelen's Automaton Chess Player [Fenherr, Joseph Friedrich]. Ueber den Schachspieler des Herrn von Kempelen. Leipzig and Dresden: Joh. Gottl. Immanuel Breitkopf, 1789. 8vo (245 x 160 mm). Engraved title, 7 full page folding copper plates, printed in German; ownership signatures to flyleaf. White boards; boards torn, chipped, and stained. — Windisch, Charles Gottlieb de. Letters ... on the Automaton Chess-Player ... of Kempelen ... Translated from the French by M.S.N. London: R. Brown, 1819. 8vo (207 x 132 mm). Title, 1 folding page with 3 plates; some offsetting from plates onto text, occasional spots, title toned. Later half calf over marbled boards, spine gilt lettered; head of boards bumped. [With]: Envelope heavily annotated in Ricky Jay's hand. — An Oxford Graduate [Robert Gray, Jr.?]. Observations on the Automaton Chess Player. London: J. Hatchard, 1819. 8vo (207 x 132 mm). Half-title, title, notes in Ricky Jay's hand to initial blank; half-title a little browned, otherwise bright and clean. Later half calf over marbled boards, spine gilt lettered; corners barely rubbed. — H[unneman], W. Chess. A Selection of Fifty Games ... Played by the Automaton Chess-Player. London: W. Pople, 1820. 16mo (165 x 112 mm). Title, preface, 76 pages of algebraic notation; internal chip to title, some browning, stray spots. Leather backed boards, upper board with paper label printed black; binding separated, rebacked with cloth tape, boards chipped with some soiling. — [Automaton Chess Player]. London: Thomas Tegg, 1826. Three loose leaves (237 x 150) with plates after J. Shury printed on rectos; browned at heads, spotting. — [Jones, Thomas P.]. Observations upon the Automaton Chess Player of Von Kempelen. Philadelphia: J. Dobson, 1827. 8vo (207 x 137 mm). 5 leaves disbound, title, 2 illustrations, foxing. Housed in cloth backed boards. — E.S.D. The Automaton Chess-Player. [The Living Age. Boston: Little, Son, and Company, 1859]. 4 loose leaves (218 x 138 mm) printed recto and verso; bibliographical information in pencil to foot of first page, toned at edges. — Wimsatt, W.K., Jr. Poe and the Chess Automaton. [Reprinted from] American Literature, Volume 11, No. 2, 1939. Pamphlet of 8 leaves stapled (252 x 170 mm). Printed wrapper, inscribed by the author on the wrapper, leaves printed verso and recto; short closed tear and slight fingersoiling to wrapper. Included among these various accounts of the Mechanical Turk is a translated volume of letters by Charles Gottlieb de Windisch, a friend of von Kempelen's, and an observer of the Chess Player at Maria Theresa's court. Here Windisch details the machine and writes to his correspondent: "... it can be but an illusion: that is what the Author himself, and every reasonable being will concede to you. But in what consists the illusion? There is the Gordian knot, more difficult to unravel, than that which was heretofore cut by Alexander". "Von Kempelen was a serious scientist, architect, naturalist, and hydraulic engineer who later studied the human voice and served as a director general for the Hungarian salt mines. He was not a magician. His invention had been inspired by the popular automata of the 18th century—expensive clockwork figures that could repeat simple actions. His Chess Player seemed to be something even more wonderful: a thinking machine. In fact, under duress, von Kempelen had resorted to trickery. A real human chess player operated the figure from inside the chest; a series of optical and mechanical effects concealed this person from the audience's view. The Chess Player drew so much intrigue that von Kempelen soon tired of demonstrating it for audiences ... He dismantled the machine, explaining it had been damaged. To friends, he admitted that it was 'a mere trifle' and merely 'illusion.' In the hands of other owners, the famous Chess Player had a long, successful career, beating Napoleon, delighting Benjamin Franklin, and inspiring analysis by Edgar Allan Poe" (Magic). REFERENCE: Magic, pp. 52–53

(automata, chess) | " ... it can be but an illusion ... but in what consists the illusion? there is the gordian knot"

A two-colour gold and hardstone snuff box, the lid applied with diamonds and a carved hardstone cameo

A two-colour gold and hardstone snuff box, the lid applied with diamonds and a carved hardstone cameo the base with maker's mark of Charles Ouizille, charge and discharge marks of Henri Clavel, Paris, 1780-1783 of circular form, the base mounted a cage with chased gold laurel and ropetwist cable below putto masks and enclosing the thinnest panels of figured red agate, one panel cracked, the later lid inset with an onyx cameo, later signed Michel, carved in three layers with a profile bust of Marie Antoinette, wife of Louis XVI, facing dexter within laurel, bordered with large collet-set diamonds on a sable ground (2) diameter 7.3 cm, 2 7/8 in, with original tooled red leather case (damaged) The use of thin translucent agate or burgau mother of pearl in formally-shaped panels contained within cagework was a hallmark of both Charles Ouizille and his associates Drais and Vachette. The central panel was usually formed by a miniature painted en camaieu, often by Jacques-Joseph de Gault, simulating a relief. For examples, by Ouizille, see a 1789 circular and a 1788 shaped oval mother of pearl box, Sotheby's London, 18 June 1979, lot 41 and Christie's Geneva, 11 May 1982, lot 184; by Drais, a 1771 oval mother of pearl and a 1774 cut-cornered rectangular red agate box, Sotheby's London, 6 December 1962, lot 167 and Geneva, 15 November 1995, lot 427; and by Vachette, an oval honey agate box of 1789-93, Sotheby's Geneva, 15 May 1990, lot 37. According to family tradition, the cameo has an exotic and fabulous history. The oriental onyx had been an amulet given by the Sultan of Constantinople to an early French king who had kept it in his treasure house. Later Louis XVI gave the stone to a celebrated gem carver called Michel who produced the wondrous likeness of the queen. The cameo was mounted into a box by the royal goldsmith, 'Vachet', and given by Marie Antoinette to the marquise de Blondel, a dame d'honneur at court, three days before the unhappy queen was incarcerated in the Temple prison. The marquis de Blondel entered the service of the captain-general of Barcelona and the box was sold for 40000 francs to a member of the Brocca family in whose possession it remained until earlier this century. The present box has a base struck with Charles Ouizille's marks for 1780-1783 but the lid appears to have been subsequently altered to receive the cameo. Bearing in mind the post-revolutionary association between Ouizille and Vachette, it is possible that it was indeed Vachette who adapted the earlier box for the cameo. Certainly cameos were extremely fashionable under Napoleon and Marie Antoinette was revered under the Restoration. Snowman illustrates an interesting box by Vachette himself of 1819-1838, in contemporary taste, chased with crowned lilies and laurel with fleurs-de-lys enclosing an agate cameo of Marie Antoinette (Eighteenth Century Gold Boxes of Europe, Woodbridge, 1990, pl. 522).

a two-colour gold and hardstone snuff box, the lid applied with diamonds and a carved hardstone cameo

Fine Books and Manuscripts, Including Americana

View 1 of Lot 1019: Chassériau, Benoît | Archives of the French adventurer relating to Colombian independence

chassériau, benoît | archives of the french adventurer relating to colombian independence

Les Arts sous Influence : Napoléon

Joinville, François d'Orléans, prince de

Joinville, François d'Orléans, prince de Correspondance autographe signée à l’amiral Charner. 1840-1841. Eight letters detailing preparations by the Belle-Poule for the return of the ashes of the Emperor. 8 lettres autographes signées, 27 pages (2 p. in-4 et 25 p. in-8, sur 9 bifeuillets), 2 enveloppes. PRÉPARATIFS DE LA BELLE-POULE POUR L’EXPÉDITION DU RETOUR DES CENDRES DE L’EMPEREUR EN 1840. CORRESPONDANCE DU PRINCE DE JOINVILLE À SON LIEUTENANT, SUR L’ARMEMENT ET L’ÉQUIPAGE DE LA BELLE-POULE. C'est dans un contexte international tendu en Orient et dans l’idée de redonner à la France son prestige en rappelant l’épopée napoléonienne, que fut décidé le retour de la dépouille mortelle de Napoléon de l’île d’Elbe à Paris. Thiers, le nouveau Président du Conseil de Louis-Philippe, et historien du Consulat et de l’Empire, fut le principal instigateur de ce coup politique. Dès que l’Angleterre donna son accord de principe au début du mois de mai 1840, de longues discussions commencèrent à la Chambre sur le lieu à donner pour la sépulture de l’empereur, tandis que les préparatifs de l’expédition furent finalisés. Le 7 juillet suivant, la Belle Poule, frégate de 60 canons quittait Toulon, suivie de la frégate la Favorite à destination de Sainte-Hélène. Commandée par le prince de Joinville qui avait la responsabilité de l’expédition, la Belle-Poule emportait à son bord le prince de Rohan-Chabot, attaché d’ambassade à Londres et commissaire désigné par Thiers pour présider aux opérations d’exhumation, les généraux Bertrand et Gourgaud, le comte de Las Cases, fils de l’auteur du Mémorial de Sainte-Hélène, cinq domestiques ayant servi Napoléon sur l’île, l’abbé Coquereau, aumônier de l’expédition et le docteur Rémy Guillard. Lieutenant du prince de Joinville, Léonard-Victor Charner est le commandant en second de la Belle-Poule. Février 1840 : il lui annonce qu’on lui fera très certainement rallier la Belle Poule "dans la dernière quinzaine de mars", mais cela demande encore à être confirmé. "Quoique je ne sache pas encore où la frégate sera envoyée, j’ai quelques raisons de penser qu’à moins d’événements graves dans le Levant, nous dirigerons notre course vers les côtes d’Afrique […] Mr Danican m’a écrit qu’il nous quittait, je ferai des démarches pour faire donner à Fabre la compagnie ; je vous serai obligé de me dire si après l’agrandissement du poste il restera encore une chambre pour Mr Bonié que je prendrais dans ce cas-là. Broyer et Lostréat sont maîtres […] Les travaux que nous avions demandés ont été faits ou se font, à ce qu’on m’a dit. Je vous prie de remercier de ma part les autorités du port de leur obligeance. J’ai appris qu’un malheureux accident a eu lieu au Mourillon en travaillant à nos obus ; ils étaient donc mal confectionnés. Avez-vous pu vous procurer la bouée Billette. Je ne sais pas encore si j’aurai une musique mais je le pense, elle sera embarquée en supplément. Les chapeaux de paille de Malte sont-ils arrivés ? Enfin quand je pense à la Belle Poule je me fatigue la tête de questions, j’oublie que vous êtes là qui n’oubliez rien pour rendre le bâtiment aussi bien que possible et je vous en remercie bien". Mars 1840 : on vient d’annoncer au grand désespoir du prince de Joinville, qu’il est chargé du commandement de l’expédition tandis que ses frères participeront à la campagne d’Algérie. Il informe son second qu’il rejoindra la Belle Poule plus tard que prévu. "Mon frère aîné et Aumale allant en Afrique, le roi et Mr Thiers ont déclaré ne pas vouloir me laisser quitter Paris en leur absence afin que nous soyons au moins deux pour faire face ici à toutes les éventualités ; j’ai jeté des cris perçants mais on ne m’a pas écouté et me voilà cloué ici indéfiniment. Pourtant je pense que si l’affaire du Maroc s’embrouillait on me lâcherait". Le duc d’Orléans, son frère aîné, doit partir mercredi pour Toulon et il compte voir l’escadre en détail et surtout la Belle Poule. "Je m’en rapporte à vous pour qu’il la trouve bien ; je vous prierai de dire à Lecourt de mettre ma chambre en ordre. Je pense que mon frère demandera à l’amiral Rosamel de faire faire des exercices généraux soit en branle-bas soit un armement en guerre des canots avec simulacre de débarquement. Il est possible aussi que le jour de son départ on fasse appareiller tout le monde pour lui donner la conduite jusque hors de la rade. Vous devez avoir reçu nos chapeaux de Malte, je vous prierai de ne pas les donner avant mon arrivée ; j’ai fait faire ici de nouveaux rubans. La Musique est recomposée et arrivera avec moi mais auparavant nous complèterons l’équipage". Mai 1840 : sur les derniers préparatifs de l’expédition et le problème posé du grand nombre de personnes prévues à bord. "Je suis enchanté de ce que vous me dites sur la promptitude des travaux exécutés à bord, et j’étais sûr que grâce à vous à qui je dois tant déjà tout cela marcherait parfaitement. J’ai bien eu un peu de chagrin quand il a fallu gâcher notre belle batterie, retirer les six canons, enfin détruire cet ensemble militaire qui me plaisait tant, enfin, il a bien fallu se résigner ; mais toutes ces constructions ne feront pas un long séjour à bord après notre arrivée à Cherbourg. Quant au faux pont, j’ai calculé que la construction de la chapelle ardente entre le carré et la calle au vin — seul point praticable en ce que la frégate sera tellement bondée de monde qu’il ne faut pas enlever un seul poste de couchage, j’ai calculé dis-je que cette construction entraînerait la démolition de l’office des officiers et de la chambre de Paulus où il est nécessaire pour une campagne aussi longue de faire des provisions […]. Ensuite je désire que Paulus conserve un trou, car c’est une grande distraction que la musique dans une aussi longue campagne et il ne pourrait pas préparer sa musique au milieu du brouhaha du navire." Il annonce qu’il aura un officier de plus avec lui, Mr Touchard, et qu’il faudra trouver un trou pour les domestiques de nos nombreux passagers, non pour les coucher — on les couchera où on pourra, mais pour mettre leurs effets et pour qu’ils s’habillent. Il a pensé les héberger dans la Sainte-Barbe [la soute à poudre], mais elle sera aussi remplie de provisions nécessitées par le grand nombre de passagers dont on l’a gratifié. "[…] Pour en revenir à la Belle Poule, il fallait faire de la place et pour cela débarquer tout ce qui n’était pas rigoureusement nécessaire de l’état-major. Mr Barrallier partait naturellement tout le premier sa présence à bord n’étant nullement nécessaire. Les trois capitaines restaient forcément, c’était donc dans les enseignes qu’il fallait taper. Or sur quatre un, Bonié est mon officier au choix, j’avais donc le droit de le garder et des trois autres, un est venu me rejoindre exprès pour naviguer avec moi […]. Restaient alors ces deux messieurs pour qui je regrette ce contretemps […], je ne les débarque pas pour les remplacer mais seulement par urgence ; nous en resterons donc à 5 officiers de quart, nombre réglementaire. […] Nous aurons en cours de campagne à soigner la compagnie de débarquement qui probablement viendra à Paris avec le cercueil". 18 décembre 1840 : deux jours après les cérémonies parisiennes du retour des Cendres, le prince de Joinville remercie le commandant en second de la Belle-Poule. "Je suis au regret d’avoir quitté Cherbourg et la Belle Poule sans avoir pu vous remercier de tous les bons services que vous m’avez rendus à moi comme second et au pays comme officier. Je suis aussi affligé de n’avoir pu vous faire mes adieux et vous dire à quel point j’étais content de vous". Il donne des nouvelles de ses hommes, alors "casés à l’École militaire", et qui ne rentreront qu’à la fin du mois. "On a voulu me faire contre-amiral, mais j’ai paré le coup ; je conserve la Belle Poule mais je ne prendrai pas la mer de sitôt, ainsi, vous aurez des mois de commandement à exercer". 24 décembre 1840 : sur le réarmement de la Belle Poule au retour de Sainte-Hélène et sur l’avancement des membres de l’expédition. Les hommes restés à Paris seront bientôt de retour : "Les travaux de la frégate pourront alors marcher ; je me recommande toujours à vous pour mes sabords du pont à l’endroit de l’ancre de veille ; je crois qu’en en changeant le percement et avec du temps ce ne sera pas difficile, on pourra leur donner un champ de tir étendu. La chapelle disparaîtra, le poste reprendra son ancienne dimension". Il donne des nouvelles de membres de l’expédition du Retour des Cendres, évoquant leur avancement ou leur élévation au rang de chevalier de la Légion d’honneur : "Guyet est capitaine de vaisseau. Il va remettre la Favorite à Penanros nommé capitaine de corvette. Mr Sedaiges nommé lieutenant de vaisseau remplace Penanros à bord. Quant aux croix [:] Gosselin, Bonnette et Hallot sont les heureux ainsi qu’un maître de la Favorite. J’ai pensé que notre campagne toute honorifique était trop peu de choses pour motiver des croix pour les officiers. On ne me reprochera pas de donner la main à des gaspillages de croix". 8 janvier 1841 : lettre très technique sur les travaux menés à bord de la Belle Poule : placement de l’ancre de veille, cages volantes "pouvant se démonter dans la batterie entre les canons", remplacement de la chaloupe, etc. Il demande "qu’on envoie de temps en temps les canots louvoyer en rade", que l’on renvoie toutes les espingoles et qu’elles soient remplacées par des perriers. "Pour nos hommes je vous prie d’en garder le plus possible des anciens et de nous compléter autant que possible en maîtres, seconds maîtres et quartier maîtres". 16 janvier 1841 : il le remercie pour ses lettres car il est toujours soucieux de savoir "ce que devient la pauvre frégate" et l’informe qu’il serait enchanté "que Mrs Aubry de la Noë et Heller [?] viennent prendre à bord les places de Mrs Roujoux et Bovis ; cela nous laissera le même nombre d’élèves et vous savez que je tiens à en avoir beaucoup". Il regrette le départ de Bonnet et évoque ensuite les aménagements de sa chambre, lui demandant la quantité d’étoffe nécessaire pour tendre toute la chambre ainsi que la surface du sol pour que j’envoie un tapis et la surface des coussins du divan". Avril 1841 : il a pris du retard dans sa correspondance à cause d’une blessure au pouce, "endommagé dans une machine à vapeur", mais il le remercie du soin qu’il apporte au réarmement "de notre belle frégate". Il ira bientôt au ministère "voir l’amiral pour en obtenir plusieurs autorisations", dont celle "de faire tirer du canon en rade à nos matelots, quand bien même les localités exigeraient de tirer à boulets perdus sur un but flottant". "Vers le 15 mai je pense que nous mettrons sous voiles pour Terre Neuve où nous ne ferons qu’un court séjour et dont nous reviendrons en France par les principaux ports des États Unis. Je compte demander à toucher à Lisbonne ou à Cadix au retour et à être autorisé suivant les circonstances à faire mon retour ou à Brest ou à Toulon." Il annonce que l’hiver prochain, probablement, il quittera la Belle Poule "pour passer sur un bateau à vapeur". [On joint :] Deux lettres des 24 mai et 19 juin 1839, dans lesquelles il est également fait mention de la Belle-Poule (4 p. in-4 (déchirure) et 2 p. in-8, une enveloppe).

View 1 of Lot 66: Correspondance autographe signée à l’amiral Charner. 1840-1841

correspondance autographe signée à l’amiral charner. 1840-1841

the centre inset with a circular plaque, painted by David's d.s.sèvre, signed, after Baron François Gérard, titled NAPOLEON 1er, depicting the Emperor standing in his coronation robes before a blue velvet throne, a sceptre in his right hand, an orb on a velvet stool to his right side, within a raised gilt laurel reserve against a green ground reserved with panels of anthemion and laurel interspersed with gilt insects and surmounted by a large gilt 'N', surrounded by sixteen smaller porcelain plaques each depicting one of the Emperor's Marshal's within a titled gilt circular frame within a laurel wreath surmounted by an anthemion above a shield-shaped reserve with an eagle head at each end, the green ground titled in gilt with battles each Marshal was involved in and their court title, mounted within ormolu leaf mounts and raised on a lappet clad frame above a mahogany frieze, supported by a ribbed marble column with diamond-shaped capping and flanked by three gilt-bronze eagle supports, each with wings outspread and perched on a sphere, the green-veined marble triform base on castors

a 'sèvres' porcelain-mounted gilt-bronze and marble circular tablethird quarter 19th century

King George IV Document signed ("George R") Warrant, signed at the head, rehearsing the agreement between George III and the King of Portugal for preventing the 'illicit Traffic in Slaves' and for appointing commissions on the coast of Africa and Brazil to arbitrate cases of captured slave vessels, hereby confirming Daniel Molloy Hamilton as the new Commissioner of Arbitration in Sierra Leone in succession to Edward Fitzgerald, deceased, and James Woods as his new secretary, counter-signed by the Secretary of State George Canning, on vellum, with papered seal, 5 pages, folio, Brighton, 6 February 1824, stab-stitched in vellum wrappers, some soiling and wear including to royal signature, rodent damage to upper edge not affecting text, strengthened at fold The Slave Trade Act of 1807 had made the British slave trade illlegal, and established a Vice Admiralty court in Freetown, Sierra Leone, to process slave ships captured by the Royal Navy. This was the first court in the British Empire with an explicit mandate to release people from slavery. After the end of the Napleonic Wars the court developed into an international Court of Mixed Commission through a series of international treaties. The aggressive actions of the Royal Navy in pursuing slave ships of other nations in the following decades did much to undermine the trans-Atlantic trade, and the court at Freetown emancipated more than 80,000 people between 1808 and 1871. PROVENANCE: Sotheby's, London, 16 December 1996, lot 162

View 1 of Lot 223: King George IV | Document signed, appointing a commissioner to a court responsible for emancipating slaves, 1824

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