A PARTIZAN OF AN OFFICER OF THE FRENCH ROYAL BODYGUARD

CIRCA 1660

Details

A PARTIZAN OF AN OFFICER OF THE FRENCH ROYAL BODYGUARD
Circa 1660
With waved tapering blade with strong medial rib on each side, basal lugs with upturned points, tapering socket of octagonal section surmounted by a chiselled acanthus moulding, and with a crossbar formed as a pair of acorns, tasselled wooden staff reinforced over its whole length with six narrow inlaid iron side-straps, and conical iron ferrule, the surfaces throughout, except for the ferrule, decorated with fine gold damascening (rubbed on the staff) comprising foliated scrollwork involving monster-heads, birds, demi-humans and winged figures, putti-masks, and on each face of the blade crowned shields of the arms of France and Navarre within the Collar of the combined Orders of St. Michel and the Saint Esprit, the latter involving 'L's (for Louis), two faces of the socket damascened in cursive script with the name 'Doumont Deuillequier (sic)'
22 in. (57.1 cm.) head

Provenance

Rothschild inv. no. AR1012.

Literature

1903 Theresianumgasse Inventory, p. 60, no. 122.
J.G. Mann and A.V.B. Norman, Wallace Collection Catalogues. European Arms and Armour and Supplement, London, 1962 and 1986, inv. no. A 1005.

Exhibited

Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum, inv. no. A 2273, 1967-1994.

Lot Essay

Partizans of this type, of which there are a number of variants, are thought to have been carried by members of the French royal Gardes de la Manche, who were part of the 1st Company of the Gardes du Corps du Roi. This and a closely similar one with the same inscription in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (inv. no. 42.50.11), belong to the most lavishly decorated group of these partizans, and are likely to have been carried by officers. The name on this and the New York partizan has been identified as that of Anton d'Aumont de Rochbaron, duc d' Aumont, Marchal de France, Capitaine des Gardes du Roi (d. 1667), whose mother's surname was de Villequier. It is uncertain whether its presence indicates that the partizans were carried by him personally, or by members of the guard under his command. The 'L's and crowns appear on partizans carried under King Louis XIII (reg. 1610-43) and King Louis XIV (reg. 1643-1715) from his accession until 1667, when he changed it to an 'H' for King Henri III, founder of the Order of the Saint-Esprit (see S.V. Grancsay, Arms and Armor, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1985, p. 329, fig. 98.4).

The damascened decoration on the blade is based on designs in the pattern-books of Jean Brain whose Diverses Pices trs utiles pour les Arquebuziers appeared in Paris in three editions, one undated, the others dated 1659 and 1667.

More from The Collection of Barons Nathaniel and Albert von Rothschild

View All