Basin c.1798-1809
Silver gilt | 6.7 x 32.8 x 21.6 cm (whole object) | RCIN 48387
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A large oval basin with slightly tapering straight sides and a flat base, the everted lip cast with a band of leaf and husk.
Marks: Marks for Paris, 1798-1809 and maker’s mark of Marie-Joseph Gabriel Genu.This basin formed part of a travelling service supplied to Napoleon. As a seasoned campaigner Napoleon travelled with every possible necessity for eating, dressing, grooming, writing, surveying, map-making, dental and physical health. These items, created in an elegant, pared-down style, usually in silver gilt, were packed with ingenuity into numbered mahogany boxes or necessaires, many of the works fitting inside others.
Provenance
Genu came from a dynasty of goldsmiths. He first entered his hallmark in 1788 and originally worked from a workshop rented by his father, close to the rue Saint-Honore. Genu frequently worked with the 'tabletier' Biennais, supplying travelling cases fitted with silver and silver-gilt objects to careful specifications, using neoclassical decorative motifs. His work appeared in services supplied to Napoleon himself as well as members of the imperial family: Josephine Bonaparte, Pauline Borghese and Napoleon II, King of Rome.
Purchased by Queen Mary -
Creator(s)
(nationality)Acquirer(s)
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Medium and techniques
Silver gilt
Measurements
6.7 x 32.8 x 21.6 cm (whole object)
962.1 g (Weight) (whole object)
Category
Place of Production
Paris [Île-de-France]
