Ornament on French Empire Silver by Karolina Stefanski ilver ornamentation during the This resulted in a monopolistic Silver was one of the most popular French Empire period (1804- commerce structure during the First manifestations of artistry to display the 1814) blended Greek, Egyptian, Empire. Three companies dominated Empire’s new taste. This First Empire SEtruscan, and Roman decorative motifs the French silversmithing market at style was in essence a continuation of with the taste and fashions of French that time: Henry Auguste (1759- the Louis XVI style that began during bourgeois society not only during, but 1816), Martin Guillaume Biennais for decades following the period. (1764-1843), and Jean-Baptiste- Napoleon Bonaparte’s chief Claude Odiot (1763-1850). They architects and decorative art advisors employed workers who each specialized Charles Percier (1764-1838) and Pierre in a task for efficacy. Reports show that François Leonard Fontaine (1764- Biennais transformed his business into 1838) were the founding fathers and a company of more than 300 employees greatest proponents of this Empire at the beginning of the nineteenth style. century.1 Often these dominating After the fall of the French Regime, silversmiths produced items for the the short transitional Directoire (1795- Emperor, his family, and as political 1799) and Consulat (1799-1804) gifts. Smaller silversmith ateliers periods characterized the First French produced silver for the bourgeoisie, the Republic. Napoleon introduced the new social class that emerged from the First French Empire in 1804, which Revolution. presented new fashions in dress, Biennais began his career as a maker architecture, as well as the fine and of small luxurious wooden items such decorative arts. as chessboards and jewel cases. But he The traditional silversmithing soon realized the benefits of the new Fig. 1. Nef of the Empress by Henry system changed with the Revolution. system that allowed him to extend his Auguste (1759-1816), vermeil, Paris, The former guild system, which business to silversmithing. He made a 1804. A decorative piece in the shape of required a long apprenticeship and traveling case on credit for Napoleon a ship that serves as the holder of table the creation and presentation of a chef before the campaign to Egypt in 1798. napkins and condiments used by kings in d’oeuvre in order to become a master Napoleon’s appreciation was evident France. It confirms the king’s and Queen’s silversmith was abandoned in favor of a when upon return he placed more orders presence at the table. Napoleon adapted liberal system that offered everyone the with Biennais and appointed him as the this tradition to keep the continuity with possibility of conducting silversmithing “Orfèvre officiel de l’Empereur” (First France’s monarchy. Photograph courtesy business without any credentials or Silversmith to the Emperor) in 1801.2 of Musée du Château de Fontainebleau. apprenticeship. 18 November | december 2012 Silver magaziNe Fig. 3. (Above) Cup in the form of a breast of Pauline Borghèse by Jean-Baptiste-Claude Odiot (1763-1850), vermeil, Paris, circa 1810. This unique piece has only one central decorative motif, the butterfly. Photograph courtesy of Musée des Arts Décoratifs. ◀ Fig. 2. Water jug by Henry Auguste (1759-1816), vermeil, Paris, 1804. This piece depicts the Winged Victory as the handle of the jug. Photograph courtesy of Musée du Château de Fontainebleau. Fig. 4. Water basin by Philippe Jean-Baptiste Huguet (active 1800-1816), vermeil, Paris, 1798-1809. This piece depicts dolphins as a repeated decorative motif, emphasizing its function to hold water. Photograph courtesy of Musée National du Château de Malmaison et Bois-Préau. November | december 2012 Silver magaziNe 19 the mid-eighteenth century and was In addition, the theories of involved that blinded many artisans. characterized by a return to the period German art historian Johann Joachim The fire-gilding process was later of Classical antiquity. This was initially Winckelmann (1717–1768) contributed replaced by the process of electrolysis, due to the discovery of the ruins of to those foundations of neoclassicism. a method of using electric current to Herculaneum (1738), Pompeii (1748), The French Empire style represents a steer a chemical reaction. The silver and the Egyptian campaign (1798-1801), luxurious homogeneity in every field of piece was placed in an electric solution/ which was also a source of influence on art and craftsmanship, including interior bath that coated it with a thin layer of the popularity of the Egyptian ornaments design and architecture. gold through the help of an electric in French Empire design. With silver, this style is characterized field and electrodes. Napoleon traveled accompanied by by objects of simple classical forms and French Empire decorative motifs writers, artists, scientists, and researchers straight lines that originated during were created in bas-relief or as who investigated and documented the Greco-Roman period and were three-dimensional sculptures. The the natural history, politics, and arts inspired by Greek mythology. French First Empire is essentially an era of of Egypt. One of them, Dominique Empire silver of this period is generally nationalism and military glory. Vivant Denon (1747-1825), who was produced of vermeil (gilded silver) to Therefore, laurel wreaths, eagles, and later appointed by Napoleon to the underline the splendor of the wealth winged Victories dressed in Greek and office of director general of the museum during that era. Roman garments are ubiquitous. Napoleon (that changed its name to the Vermeil was a very popular Many forms of silver objects were Musée du Louvre), collected sketches, method of applying a thin layer of gold based on models of ancient Greek drawings, and literary works of the (gilding) onto sterling silver and other ceramics. The most common forms Egyptian architecture and details that metal pieces commonly used during of First Empire silver were produced he published in his “Voyage dans la the First Empire to emphasize their in the shapes of amphora, cantharus, basse et la haute Egypte” (“Journey in extravagance and wealth. At that time, craters, kylix, oinochoes, pithos, and Lower and Upper Egypt”) in 1802. His vermeil was achieved by the process rhytons. There were exceptions to this work had an imperative effect on, and of fire-gilding. In this process, a paste rule (such as the nefs3 in Figure 1 that was the main cause of the revival of the of gold and mercury was spread over continued the same form since the Egyptian motifs in Western decorative the silver piece, then heated, fusing Middle Ages). The structure of silver arts and architecture. Figure 9 displays the gold to the surface of the piece, objects was made up of vast polished the Egyptian head as the handle of the mercury evaporating. This type surfaces, on which were attached the cruet holder and the most distinct of procedure was banned in France symmetrical ornaments through decorative motif. because of its toxicity of mercury fumes riveting, unlike the traditional way of Fig. 5. Water basin by Henry Auguste (1759-1816), vermeil, Paris, 1804. This basin depicts swans as the central motif of the piece underlying its function of carrying water. Photograph courtesy of Musée du Château de Fontainebleau. 20 November | december 2012 Silver magaziNe Fig. 6. Sugar bowl by Jacques-Gabriel-André Bompart (active 1798-1838), silver, crystal, Paris, 1803-1804. This sugar bowl prominently features the butterfly as decorative motif as the handle of the cover of the sugar bowl. Photograph courtesy of Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris/Jean Tholance. juxtaposition of Apollo (representing this time also manifested itself with order and morality) and Bacchus the bourgeoisie who began to imitate (representing chaos and desire). the fashions of Napoleon’s Empire— The peripheral subject is generally though their silver pieces were less always applied in a particular rhythm, elaborate and less expensive. usually geometric or natural. Its It is during the Classical Period function is to be purely ornamental, (in the fourth and fifth centuries BC) to act as a frame for the object and to when the concept for luxury developed. reinforce the edges of the silver piece. Roman Emperors commissioned silver For example, the water leaves on the vessels with elaborate decorative motifs pedestal of the coffee pot, part of a using precious metals and gemstones. tea service by Marc Jacquart (in the We see a revival of that concept during collection of the Metropolitan Museum the First Empire. of Art), have a purely ornamental The visual language of the First Empire, established by Percier and function that frames the pedestal but soldering that was popular during the also serves as reinforcement of the silver Fontaine, expressed and manifested the previous period. piece. importance and greatness of Napoleon’s Ornamental forms can be divided Certain silver objects introduce military conquests and imperial power. into two distinct types: ornament central subjects in a repetitive way, Although beyond the scope of this as a central subject and ornament as underlining the object’s function. The article, Napoleon’s political power was a peripheral subject. Both served as water basin illustrated in Figure 4 shows a reason for desecration of King Louis a role to show something specific, the dolphin, a central subject, but repeats XIII’s (1601- 1643) tomb. Two life- immediately visible and definite. The it in a fret pattern enclosing the entire size silver gilt angels made by French winged goddess of Victory (Figure 2), basin. This representation intensifies sculptors Jacques Sarazin (1592-1660) for example, which is a clear symbol the function of the piece, which was to and Guillaume Coustou (1677-1746) of triumph, showed this immediate hold large amounts of water. for the Jesuit church, were saved by function. At the same time, ornamental conservator Alexandre Lenoir (1761- According to Napoleon’s architects forms represented something implicit and the era’s trendsetters, Percier and 1839) during the French Revolution, and invisible at first glance.