EARLY 19TH CENTURY

The watercolour design for the Grand Sceau de l'Empire Français, signed FD and HL for Denon-Gay-Biennais and dated 10 July 1804, is now in the Bibliothèque National, Paris. Released to the Imperial Court in the Summer of 1804, these arms were borne upon the State Carriage of the Emperor Napoleon at his Coronation on 2 December 1804. A smaller ormolu coach fitting depicting these same arms was sold from the collection of the late James A. Williams, Mercer House, Savannah, Sotheby's New York, 20 October 2000, lot 110 ($42,150).