CIRCA 1811, IMPRESSED TITLE, IMPRESSED SEVRES AND INCISED R74.11. TO REVERSE, INCISED CHAUDET F. TO SIDE

For an illustration of another larger example of this model see Tamara Préaud, et.al., The Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory, Alexander Brogniart and the Triumph of Art and Industry, 1800-1847 (New York, 1997) pp. 345-346, no. 137, where the bust is discussed in detail. In an agreement signed on 4 September 1804 between Alexandre Brongniart and Antoine-Denis Chaudet, Chaudet undertook to deliver to the Sèvres factory a larger than life plaster bust of the Emperor; he also authorized the factory to take as many casts or moulds in porcelain as required. In return he was to receive the sum of 1,200 francs. This bust replaced several earlier representations of Bonaparte by Louis-Simon Boizot, some of which depicted him as a general and later as first consul. Chaudet's idealised 'classical' bust aimed to flatter the sovereign by aligning him with Roman prototypes, and in this aim he was successful as the portrait was officially adopted , produced in two sizes at Sèvres, as well as being automatically included in diplomatic and official gifts.