Luxury Sabre Of An Officer Of The Bodyguard Of Jérôme Bonaparte, King Of Westphalia, 1st Empire

Entirely made of blackened and gilded steel.

Turkish guard, style also called "à la Marengo", cruise with inverted quillons, rectangular-shaped cruise node with two semi-spherical mumps (the cruise knot and mumps have a sandblasted bottom with a smooth frame rod); Butt cap; guard branch replaced by a chain; fluted ebony rocket in the style of First Empire General Staff Officer's sabers. Total height of the guard 17.3 cm, width 16.1 cm, thickness at the level of the shell 3 cm.

Curved blade with a hollow pan, three-sided back, it is golden and blued on the first third, signed on the heel "Coulaux frères Manufacture nationale de Klingenthal". Length 77.7 cm; heel width 3 cm, heel thickness 0.8 cm.

Weight of the sheathless saber 0.738 kilograms.

Curved sheath with two belière bracelets. Bracelets taking the shape of the cruise (rectangle framed by two semi-spherical mumps, sandblasted bottom and smooth frame wand) width 4.3 cm height 5.15 cm, spherical belière pits, steel belière ring 3.3 cm in diameter (ring thickness 0.4 cm). Symmetrical dart 7.8 cm high, width 5.05 cm, maximum thickness 0.4 cm, minimum thickness 0.3 cm, it is finished at its end by an olive height 0.8 cm, width 1.2 cm, thickness 1 cm. Sheath entirely bordered with a double frame rod, one hollow with a sandblasted bottom and the second (on the outside) smooth and golden. Total length of the sheath 82 cm, width at the sheath entrance bowl 4.4 cm, thickness 2.1 cm; weight 0.602 kilograms.

Total length of the weapon 98 cm; weight 1,340 kilograms.

Very good condition, reconditioned steel coloring.

First Empire Consulate Era.

This saber could have belonged to Pierre CHABERT (1770-1839), an officer in the guard of King Jerome in 1809, then Aide de Camp until the end of the Empire, he became Major General on September 4, 1810.

The collections of the Museum of the Palace of Versailles have a portrait signed François KINSON representing Jérôme BONAPARTE, King of Westphalia with his wife, he is in a large uniform and carries a saber very close to the saber that we present here.

Origin:

-Hotel Drouot March 12, 2004, number 232 of the catalog, expert Bernard CROISSY.

-Bertrand Malvaux

Description and photos Bertrand Malvaux