Canon Musical Cigar Holder, Circa 1820

Attributed to the firm of Alphonse Giroux Père, Paris (1801-1840) - An unusual cigar-shaped cannon in blackened and gilded wood, flanked at the rear of its barrel by a powder keg and a military drum serving as a match receptacle and striking surface. The three pieces, mounted on a base inlaid with Amboyna burl, stand on a molded circular plinth of ebonized wood, the base of which contains a music box with a mechanism activated by a front pull. At the rear of the breech of the cannon, a butterfly key activates the system for ejecting cigars arranged in the chambers of its muzzle. The whole rests on three small ball feet. A creation of the first half of the 19th century.

CIGAR FUMEROLES
Centered on a circular base encased in exotic speckled amboyna burl veneer, a Bombarde artillery piece mounted on a two-wheeled carriage features a muzzle with seven honeycomb-like cavities, ready to receive cigars cleverly propelled one by one by means of a small butterfly key riveted to the rear of its breech.
Made of blackened wood, partly gilded or with gold highlights, this piece of artillery, emblematic of the glorious military epic of the Napoleonic Wars (1799-1814), is flanked at the rear of its barrel, in a delightfully rebellious spirit, by a gunpowder barrel with molded hoops and a small drum of a Foot Grenadier of the Imperial Guard, its body embellished with two-tone cotton cords and gilt metal tie rods. Miniaturized, these Secondary military accessories serve as a match holder for one and a striker for the other.

The three elements are mounted on a pearwood base with an ebonized finish and a molded, cyma-shaped profile. A pull tab on the front activates a music box—playing two melodies—nestled in the lower part of the base. Three small, flattened ball feet support this unusual, recreational cigar holder, intended for a refined gentleman inclined to succumb to, and revel in, the "burning charms" of the Castilian cigars discovered by the Emperor's soldiers during their campaigns beyond the Pyrenees and reverently carried in their knapsacks*. This mischievously playful Smoking Set, tacitly combining utilitarian function and historical achievements**, is a fine example of the creative verve of manufacturers of "artistic novelty items," of which the Maison Alphonse Giroux père, established in the capital at 7, rue du Coq Saint-Honoré, was, from the 1820s onward, alongside the Maison Susse, "the inexhaustible supplier." The "grandmother" of this genre, this venerable institution, known in its time for "always being the first to signal the most curious inventions," strove to offer its loyal Parisian and European clientele numerous "new" objects and trinkets each year, whose dazzling fantasy, ingenious mechanics, combined with "good taste and originality defying all criticism, delighted the eye."

Similar to ours, a Cigar Holder Canon still bearing on the reverse of its base the label affixed by the House of A. Giroux (Sédart Sale of October 29, 2025, Lot 185) confirms the kinship of this model with this Establishment acclaimed by Auguste Barhelemy in his work devoted to "The Art of Smoking, or the Pipe and the Cigar. Poem in three songs followed by notes.." (Paris: Lallemand-Lepine, 1844, p. 40). By perusing the press of the time, we know that the A. Giroux company, anticipating or even fueling the whims of fashion, offered unrepentant tobacco enthusiasts cigar cutters in the form of guillotines, a "small Turkish slipper, a pretty and ingenious lighter," match holders with figures of little devils, "exquisite and charming trifles," and so on. As attractive as it is rare, this singular Cigar Holder with its mechanisms is sure to pique the interest of the enthusiast and collector of smoking objects and accessories related to the history of tobacco in the 19th century.

* Nourisson, Didier, "Tobacco and Anti-Tobacco in France in the 19th Century," in: History, Society and Economy, 1988, No. 4, pp. 535-547
** Echoes of the post-Revolutionary Wars waged under General Napoleon Bonaparte, of the conflicts marking the First Empire, but also an allusion to the Decrees of December 29, 1810, and January 12, 1811, establishing the State Manufactories' monopoly on tobacco production.
___________
Materials: Ebonized pear wood; Amboyna burl; blackened wood painted with gold and polychrome highlights; metal; dyed cotton cords.

Dimensions: Height: 23 cm; Length of the barrel from its muzzle to the projection key: 20.5 cm; Diameter: 22 cm.
Parisian work by the firm of Alphonse Giroux Père. First half of the 19th century. Circa 1820-1830.
Provenance: Paris, Private Collection.
In excellent condition. Polychrome finish, original cords and tension rods; Musical mechanism slightly stiff