Model Of The Vendome Column In Gilt Bronze, Circa 1814-1833

Antique model of the Vendôme Column – gilt bronze, Restoration period (1814–1833)
A fine gilt bronze model of the Vendôme Column in Paris, made between 1814 and 1833 — a specific historical period when the monument stood without the statue of Napoleon I at its summit. This depiction reflects the exact appearance of the column during the Restoration, when the imperial legacy was being distanced by royal power.The Vendôme Column was erected between 1806 and 1810 to the glory of the Grande Armée, on the orders of Napoleon I, following the victory at Austerlitz.
It was originally topped by a colossal statue of Napoleon as the Roman Emperor, dressed in a toga, crowned with laurels and holding a globe surmounted by Victory. This statue, the work of Antoine-Denis Chaudet, cast with bronze from enemy cannons, was installed in 1810. It was removed in 1814 by the Allies when the coalition troops entered Paris. Chaudet's statue was then melted down in 1818, at the initiative of the royal government, in order to create a new equestrian statue of Henri IV, reinstalled on the Pont Neuf.
The column then remained bare for nearly two decades, until Louis-Philippe had a new effigy of the Emperor replaced - this time represented as a "little corporal" - in 1833. Our model precisely illustrates this transitional state of the column, without a statue at the top, topped instead with a small ornamental element in the shape of an apple symbolizing eternity or memory. Finely chiseled in gilded bronze, the column is adorned with a helical relief decoration representing Napoleonic military campaigns. The square base is richly decorated with bas-reliefs, trophies of arms and imperial eagles. The whole rests on a stepped base, surrounded by a very beautiful miniature balustrade.
The gilding is original, with some visible wear. Note that the balustrade at the top is slightly deformed and that the stepped base has a missing part at one corner.
This Vendôme column is probably the work of a Parisian founder or ornamentalist, it could have been made for commemorative or decorative purposes, intended for members of the military or administrative elite of the
time.
Condition: very good condition, gilding worn in places