Object details
Accession number
T17s1.a-d
Primary Creator
French
Full title
Eagle Finial, Staff, Flag, Cravat: Insignia of the First Regiment of Grenadiers of Foot of Napoleon's Imperial Guard
Creation Date
1813-1814
Provenance
Anatoli Nikolaievich Demidov (1813–1870), Prince of San Donato, Russian diplomat and industrialist, Florence.
Sale of the San Donato Collection, Chales Pillet, Paris, 12-22 April 1880, lot 2190.
Purchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner from the art dealer Sypher and Company, New York on 9 November 1880 for $300.
Marks
Flag, embroidered in gold thread (obverse): GARDE / IMPERIALE / L'EMPEREUR / NAPOLÉON / AU 1er RÉGIMENT / DES GRENADIERS / À PIED
Embroidered in gold thread (reverse): MARINGO / ULM, / AUSTERLITZ, JÉNA / EYLAY, FRIEDLAND, / ECKMÜHL, ESSLING / WAGRAM, SMOLENSK / MOSKOWA / VIENNE, BERLIN / MADRID, MOSCOU
Eagle finial, number of regiment (base): 1
Dimensions
Cravat: 48 x 31 in. (121.9 x 78.7 cm)
Display Media
Flag and cravat: Silk tabby, silk and gilt yarns, satin, gilt sequins, bosses, spiral wires / Finial: Gilded bronze
Dimension Notes
Flag with fringe: 101.6 x 102.2 cm (40 x 40 1/4 in.)
Cravat: 121.9 x 78.7 cm (48 x 31 in.)
Eagle finial: 25.4 cm (10 in.) height
Web Commentary
Isabella Stewart Gardner kept meticulous records of many of her acquisitions. In keeping with this legacy, object information is continually being reviewed, updated, and enriched in order to give greater access to the collection.
Permanent Gallery Location
Short Gallery
Bibliography
Charles Pillet. Palais de San Donato, deuxième partie, Catalogue des objets d'ameublement du rez-de-chaussée,... (Paris, 12-22 April 1880), p. 27, lot 2190. (as an exact copy of the flag of the first regiment of the Imperial Guard of Napoleon I)
Art Exhibition: Mrs. John L. Gardner, 152 Beacon St., Boston. Exh. cat. (Boston, 1899), p. 1, no. 5. (as the flag of the first regiment of the Imperial Guard of Napoleon I)
O. Hollander. Nos drapeaux et étendards de 1812 à 1815 (Paris, 1902), pp. 22, 81-83, 103, 104, 201, 202.
Catalogue. Fenway Court. (Boston, 1903), p. 1. (as a flag of the first regiment of the Imperial Guard of Napoleon I)
Wendel Longstreet and Morris Carter. General Catalogue (Boston, 1935), p. 133. (as a flag of the first regiment of the Imperial Guard of Napoleon I)
“Notes, Records, Comments.” Gardner Museum Calendar of Events 9, no. 42 (19 Jun. 1966), p. 2. (as a copy of the flag of the first regiment of the Imperial Guard of Napoleon I)
Général J. Regnault. Les aigles impériales et le drapeau tricolore 1804-15 (Paris, 1967), pp. 207, 208, figs. 36, 37.
Adolph S. Cavallo. Textiles: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1986), pp. 160-61, no. 117. (as the original or a copy of the flag of the first regiment of the Imperial Guard of Napoleon I)
Rights and reproductions
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