S/2588 Antique Treen Early 19th Century Napoleonic Carved Coquilla Nut Table Snuff Box

A rare Napoleonic carved coquilla nut table snuff box in the form of a warship, double lidded and carved with a figure of Napoleon, with flags and Napoleon's crest with 'N' in a laurel wreath. The warship is carved with gun ports to port and starboard with flags and cannon balls, and a figurehead almost certainly depicting the Merovingian King Childeric I whom Napoleon believed he was descended from, mounted on a later stained wood plinth, with a gilt plaque inscribed 'SNUFF BOX, CARVED BY ONE OF NAPOLEON'S STAFF, AT LONGWOOD, ST. HELENA, 1819'.

Titled on applied gilded plaque on the stained beech stand: snuff box carved by one of Napoleon's staff at Longwood St. Helena 1819.

Provenance: By repute this warship was said to have been purchased from the French Embassy in London by a man of the cloth, and it was carved by one of Napoleon's men in Longwood House on the Island of St. Helena while Napoleon was exiled there.

See Clive L. Lloyd, The Arts and Crafts of Napoleonic and American Prisoners of War 1756-1816, page 85 for a similar example.

The Ship Size:
6.25 in. (16 cm.) Wide
1.75 in. (4.5 cm.) Deep
2 in. (5 cm.) High

Sold 7 in. (18 cm.) Wide
2½ in. (6.5 cm.) Deep
3¼ in. (8.5 cm.) High
French Circa 1819