Embroidered with a red N beneath an Imperial crown and in good condition despite some ‘slight rust stains’, the shirt had been rescued by Napoleon’s servant Louis-Etienne St-Denis (also known as Memeluk Ali) and soared to €63,000 (£38,900).
Other notable prices at this sale of Napoleonic mementoes included €150,000 (£92,600) for André Appiani’s Portrait of Napoleon contemplating the bust of Athena, 6ft 11in x 4ft 4in (2.11 x 1.31m); €40,000 (£24,700) for a model of La Belle Poule, the frigate that brought Napoleon’s ashes back from St Helena; and €200,000 (£123,500) for the sabre used by Mameluk chief Mourad Bey (1750-1801) at the Battle of the Pyramids.
Another piece of Imperial memorabilia, this time relating to Napoleon III turned up in the Renaud-Daguerre (17.94 buyer’s premium) rooms on April 5, when a red-enamelled gold snuffbox, the lid topped by the diamond and silver crowned monogram of the Emperor, and with gold-mounted circular emerald cabochons in each corner, rated €20,500 (£13,200) when it went under the hammer.
The box bore an unidentified LT jeweller’s hallmark and was engraved G. Lemmonier joaillier de la couronne, 25 place Vendôme. Lemonnier became court jeweller in 1853 and in 1855 made Empress Eugénie’s Imperial crown, now in the Louvre.
A similar box, also with the N monogram and Lemonnier’s signature, belongs to the Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle.
Napoleon’s monogram would sell the shirt off his back
NAPOLEONIC MEMORABILIA (£1 = €1.62): A sale entitled L’Empire à Fontainebleau confirmed the evergreen appeal of Napoleonic memorabilia at Osenat, Fontainebleau (17.94/13.16% buyer’s premium) on March 10, where one of the last linen shirts worn by Napoleon on St Helena was offered for sale.
