RARE TIMBALE DE GRAND FORMAT EN ARGENT DU SERVICE... Lot 142

RARE TIMBALE DE GRAND FORMAT EN ARGENT DU SERVICE DE CAMPAGNE DE L’EMPEREUR NAPOLÉON IER Large silver tumbler (950 thousandths) with flat bottom and slightly flared edge with nets said "with strong edge", engraved with the large imperial weapons of Napoleon I. Very good condition. Paris, 1806-1809. Goldsmith : Jean-Louis BERGER, 2 rue pont de Lodi in Paris (after 1806), for BIENNAIS. Punches of title to the 1st cock (1798-1809) and of the head of woman (guild of the Parisian goldsmiths). H. 10 cm. Weight : 168,2 g. Provenance - Campaign kit of the emperor Napoleon I. - Collin du Bocage sale, June 8, 2016, lot 30 (sold for €18,750). - French private collection. History Rare timbale belonging to the personal campaign kit of Emperor Napoleon I, possibly from the looting of his Berline or from St. Helena. There were only 48 kettledrums in the 1805 inventory of campaign silver, and 200 in the 1812 inventory. Jean-Louis Berger, specialized in the manufacture of this type of object, seems to have subcontracted Biennais for the timbales of the Emperor's kit, since the rare ones known elsewhere also show his master stamp. Literature Exhibition catalog, La berline de Napoléon, le mystère du butin de Waterloo. Musée de la Légion d'Honneur, March 7 to July 8, 2012, article by Anne Dion, p. 267. Related work An identical kettledrum, by Jean-Louis Berger, is in the Wellington Museum in London.