NAPOLEON PRESENTATION BRACELET TO LAS CASES UNIQUE GOLD, BLUE ENAMEL AND GEMSTONE IMPERIAL BRACELET

Lot 647
45 00055 000
Gold, silver, enamel, guilloché enamel, cobalt glass, shell came, pink inserts cabochon cut with engraved signature and inscription inside, Napoleon Initials «N», an eagle with widespread wings, initials DA in an armouries under the crown decorated pink inserts of cabochon cut The bracelet was a gift from Napoleon to the famous French author Las Cases who accompanied him in Saint Helena Island during his exile. The cameo on the bracelet carries an internal incision on blue glass with dedication “À Las Cases, Vantez-vous de la fidélité que vous m’avez montrée et de toute l’affection que je vous porte.” Signed “Napoleon”. The bracelet also contains a small urn containing two locks of hair of unknown origin. Provenance: Private Collection, Europe Emmanuel-Augustin-Dieudonné-Joseph, comte de Las Cases (1766-1842) was a French historian best known as the recorder of Napoleon’s last conversations on St. Helena, the publication of which contributed greatly to the Napoleonic legend in Europe. An officer of the royal navy, Las Cases in 1790 emigrated from France to England, where he wrote and published his Atlas Historique (1802), a work that attracted NapoleonBonaparte’s attention. Upon returning to France in 1809, Las Cases was given a minor position on the council of state and was made count in 1810. After Napoleon’s defeat in 1814, he returned to England but joined Napoleon during the Hundred Days (1815), following him, together with his son, into exile in St. Helena. There he acted as an informal secretary to the ex-emperor, and he recorded for 18 months his conversations with him on his principles of warfare, his identification of the French Revolution with the Empire, his political philosophy, and his sentiments on religion and philosophy, which thereafter took form in his Mémorial de Sainte-Hélène (1823).