A THREE OF DIAMONDS PLAYING CARD AND A MAP OF FRANCE
A THREE OF DIAMONDS PLAYING CARD AND A MAP OF FRANCE
A THREE OF DIAMONDS PLAYING CARD AND A MAP OF FRANCE
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A THREE OF DIAMONDS PLAYING CARD AND A MAP OF FRANCE
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'THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON'S PLAYING CARD AND MAP' THE PROPERTY OF THE SHAW STEWART FAMILY AT ARDGOWAN HOUSE (LOTS 101-106)
A THREE OF DIAMONDS PLAYING CARD AND A MAP OF FRANCE

THE CARD AUTOGRAPHED BY NAPOLEON IN 1807; THE MAP DATED 1808

細節
A THREE OF DIAMONDS PLAYING CARD AND A MAP OF FRANCE
THE CARD AUTOGRAPHED BY NAPOLEON IN 1807; THE MAP DATED 1808
A Three of Diamonds playing card, autographed on the verso by the hand of Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 'l'amiral anglais aux dardanelles / Mars 1807', and annotated below in the hand of Sir Michael Shaw Stewart, Bt, 'The above is the handwriting of Napoleon Bonaparte'; [with] a printed map of France, titled 'NOUVEAU TABLEAU POUR SERVIR A L'ASSEMBLAGE DES FEUILLES DE LA CARTE DE FRANCE PAR CASSINI ET DE CELLE DES PAYS-BAS PAR FERRARIS' and dated 1808, annotated at upper right in an unknown hand 'L'Emp Napoleon', a wax-headed pin inserted into the table of longitudes and latitudes, annotated on the verso, by Sir Michael Shaw Stewart, 6th Baronet, 'This map was in the collection of the Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte at St Helena. The pin stuck in it, was a memorandum of his own'
The card:
3 ¾ in. (9.4 cm) high
2 ½ in. (6.5 cm) wide

The map:
26 in. (66 cm) high
37 ¾ in. (98 cm) wide
來源
Acquired by Sir Michael Shaw Stewart, 6th Baronet (1788-1836) presumably after the death of Napoleon in 1821,
Thence by descent at Ardgowan House, Renfrewshire, Scotland.

榮譽呈獻

Meredith Sykes
Meredith Sykes

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拍品專文

These two artefacts are mementoes of Napoleon’s strategic mind. While on his campaigns, he would spend a lot of time and energy studying the latest movements of his opponents. In his recent biography Napoleon the Great, Andrew Roberts mentions Napoleon came up with an idea to track enemy mobilization with the use of playing cards:

“The name or number of each regiment is to be entered on a playing-card, and the cards are to be changed from one compartment to another according to the movements of the regiments.”

The reference on the playing card is apparently to the British admiral John Thomas Duckworth, who commanded the Royal Navy during the unsuccessful Dardanelles Operations which took place in the early months of 1807 as part of the Anglo-Turkish War (1807-1809).

While at St. Helena, Napoleon resided in Old Longwood while awaiting for the more sophisticated residence of New Longwood to be finished. Coincidentally, the cabinet-maker George Bullock who was commissioned by the British Government to supply the furniture, was the brother of William Bullock who had acquired his Waterloo carriage. The map, which was Napoleon's possession at St Helena, might have been brought back to England by Sir Hudson Lowe alongside many other pieces of furniture and memorabilia (d. 1844) after the former Emperor's death in 1821.

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