DATED 1810, IMPRESSED SMALL UPPERCASE MARK TO THE FRONT OF THE BASE, THE BACK INCISED A.L. PROBABLY FOR THE REPAREUR A.-M. LIANCE, AND A.B. 17 AT 10. FOR A. BROGNIART, 17 AUGUST 1810, AFTER THE MODEL BY A.-D. CHAUDET

In an agreement signed on 4 September 1804 between Alexandre Brongniart, director of the Sèvres manufactory from 1800-47, 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 molds 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, as well as being automatically included in diplomatic and official gifts. The bust was produced in two sizes at Sèvres, this being the larger of the two. See T. 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.
August-Marie Liancé is recorded as a sculptor at the manufactory from 1782-92 and from 1795-1820.