Napoleonic pistols were among a treasure trove of decorative art and antiques, sold at a Sotheby’s auction

An exquisite pair of bespoke gold-encrusted pistols made for Napoleon’s son and heir, the three-year-old ‘King of Rome’, sold for nearly $1.5 million at a Sotheby’s auction in London, UK. 

Put up for sale in this 200th anniversary year of the Battle of Waterloo, the pistols are said to be the last gift given by Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) to his son. They sold for £965,000 ($1.48 million) against a pre-sale estimate of the £800,000-1.2 million ($1.24-$1.87 million).

The pistols were part of a July ‘Treasures’ sale at Sotheby’s Bond Street auction house, which netted a total of £12.03 million ($18.56 million).

The ‘Roi de Rome’ pistols, which are dated 1814, mark one of the most poignant moments in the French Emperor’s turbulent life – the last time he saw his son before defeat in battle and exile to Elba. 

Created by celebrated gunsmith Jean Lepage, the exquisitely wrought pistols are emblazoned with Napoleonic symbolism, including the Emperor’s personal cypher, the capitalised N, the Imperial eagle, and the iron crown of Italy, marking them as an important Imperial gift. 

Bonaparte conquered Europe to become first Emperor of the French. Born in Corsica, he rose through the ranks of the French army in the wake of the revolution which had overthrown King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette, conquering Egypt by 1798, and launching a coup d’etat in France in 1799, then becoming first consul. 

By 1804 he had been proclaimed emperor in a lavish ceremony at the cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris. Napoleon is today a polarising figure, a tyrant to some, but to others an enlightened reformer who swept aside feudal systems of law and government throughout Europe, replacing them with his Code Napoleon, which established the principles of meritocracy, justice and freedom of religion; he also abolished slavery. 

Napoleon’s forces swept Europe, defeating the Austrians at Marengo (1800) and Austerlitz (1805), and annexing Italy, Spain, Holland, Belgium and large swathes of modern-day Germany. His downfall began with his disastrous conquest of Russia, which eventually led to retreat from Moscow and the invasion of France by his enemies Britain, Austria and Prussia. He abdicated in April 1814, was forced into exile on the island of Elba, but returned triumphantly only to be decisively defeated at the Battle of Waterloo by the Duke of Wellington on 18 June 1815. 

He was exiled to the Atlantic island of St Helena, where he died in 1821. His defeat led to the ascendancy of Britain as the leading force in world affairs through the 19th century.

Speaking about the pistols, Christopher Mason, Specialist in Sotheby’s European Sculpture and Works of Art department, says: “These remarkable treasures epitomise the greatest personal tragedy of Napoleon’s life, that he saw his beloved son and heir for the last time in January 1814, destroying his hopes to create a lasting dynasty.  Within weeks, the Emperor had been defeated, abdicated his throne and was forced into exile on Elba. A year later, he faced his final humiliation at Waterloo.” 

During the Siege of Paris which followed his fall, the pistols were acquired in 1816 by an ambitious English souvenir collector named William Bullock. 

Bullock was an entrepreneur who captivated Regency London with his epic exhibitions of Napoleonic memorabilia and natural history in his famous Egyptian Hall at 170-173 Piccadilly.  

This fashionable venue lured everyone from the Prince Regent, the Queen and visiting European royalty to Jane Austen, Lord Byron and Walter Scott. 

The pistols were sold at his 1819 sale of the contents of Egyptian Hall and were later in the collections of Anglo-American socialite Cora, Countess of Strafford, and the renowned antique firearms connoisseur William Keith Neal.

Meanwhile, the top-selling lot at the Treasures auction was a pair of Italian rosewood Pietre Dure mounted, inlaid ebony cabinets (Roman, circa 1625), on a pair of Regency mahogany and parcel-gilt stands, which sold for £1.26 million ($1.95 million).

Other treasures that were snapped up included:

• A monumental quartz granite vase from Roman Egypt, circa First Century BC, which sold for £1.085 million ($1.65 million).

• A 16th century Madonna and Child relief by Italian artist Jacopo Sansovino for £1.025 million ($1.56 million).

• A parcel-gilt silver standing salt, probably French or Flemish, circa 1560, for £1,025 million ($1.56 million). 

• An Italian pietre dure and pietre tenere white marble inlaid table top, Florence, circa 1560-1580, for £965,000 ($1.46 million).

• A gold cagework boîte à miniatures, Pierre-François Drais, Paris, 1767, the miniatures by Louis-Nicolas van Blarenberghe, signed and dated 1767, for £605,000 ($921,112).

• A gilt-bronze-mounted moulded and blown frosted and pearlised cut crystal elephant liqueur set by Baccarat, made for or after the L’Exposition Universelle de Paris of 1878, for £485,000 ($738,412).

• An Imperial presentation gilt-bronze mounted malachite vase made by the Imperial Lapidary Workshops, Peterhof or Ekaterinburg, 1846, for £389,000 ($592,252). 

• A Royal German neoclassical gilt-bronze and porcelain-mounted guéridon table, the porcelain plaque by Berlin’s Königliche Porzellan-Manufaktur, signed Krüger 1818, probably after a design by Karl Friedrich Schinkel (1781-1841), for £365,000 ($555,712).

• A pearl, gold and enamel automaton Siberian mouse, attributed to Henri Maillardet, circa 1805, for £365,000 ($555,700). 

The auction fetched a total of £12.03 million ($18.31 million), the second highest for a Sotheby’s Treasures sale.