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Lot Essay
On the morning of June 18, 1815 the inn La Belle Alliance became Napoleon Bonaparte's Headquarters for the Battle of Waterloo. The Duke of Wellington and Blücher met there some around 21:00 hours that evening, signifying that the battle was won. Blücher suggested calling the battle 'La Belle Alliance', however Wellington insisted on the Battle of Waterloo.
The inventory of the Imperial Garde Robe of Napoleon made on the 20 August 1811 lists two silver-gilt nécessaires-de-voyage (Bibliotheque National de France, Ms. fr. 6581.) One was presented to Tsar Alexander I of Russia; the location of the second is unknown. However Anne-Dion Tenenbaum in her exhibition catalogue L'orfèvre de Napoléon, Martin-Guillaume Biennais, Paris, 2003, p.30, notes that it was most probably lost after the Battle of Waterloo. She notes that an inkstand, now in the collection of the musée de Malmaisson, is thought to have come from the lost nécessaire as it corresponds in size to the example in the Alexander I service as does the dish offered here.
The inventory of the Imperial Garde Robe of Napoleon made on the 20 August 1811 lists two silver-gilt nécessaires-de-voyage (Bibliotheque National de France, Ms. fr. 6581.) One was presented to Tsar Alexander I of Russia; the location of the second is unknown. However Anne-Dion Tenenbaum in her exhibition catalogue L'orfèvre de Napoléon, Martin-Guillaume Biennais, Paris, 2003, p.30, notes that it was most probably lost after the Battle of Waterloo. She notes that an inkstand, now in the collection of the musée de Malmaisson, is thought to have come from the lost nécessaire as it corresponds in size to the example in the Alexander I service as does the dish offered here.