BRIDLE BITS OF THE BODYGUARDS OF THE KING'S MILITARY HOUSEHOLD, model 1814, Restoration period. 5822-A2

BRIDLE BITS OF THE ROYAL BODYGUARD, model 1814, Restoration period. 5822-A2

Simple branches, tinned copper bosses depicting the face of the Sun on a radiant background framed by a beaded molding.

France.
Restoration period.
Good condition, oxidation to be cleaned, wear and tear on the bosses.

PROVENANCE:
Former collection of Hippolyte Marie-Joseph Boivin (Guermantes, September 8, 1857, Bouvresse June 19, 1912).
This erudite from the late 19th century assembled a collection of patriotic faience of great importance, which has been exhibited several times in French museums.
Hippolyte Boivin, a dedicated collector, gathered faience from Rouen, Marseille, Strasbourg, Delft, Nevers, enamel dial watches from the First Empire, antique limbs, Norman and Picard wardrobes and clocks, chests and clocks from various periods, tapestries, rattles from all over France and even abroad.
His grandson recounts that H. Boivin and his wife traveled from village to village, buying objects that caught their interest. These acquisitions enriched his own collections and those of the Beauvais museum, where he served as curator from 1889 to 1912. In his collecting pursuits, he also developed a passion for military memorabilia, particularly headgear, brassware, bridle bits, and various historical souvenirs.
He had a gallery built in his garden to house his military collections, later presented in the "Boivin room" at the Dejean barracks (Amiens), which was destroyed during the Second World War. Hippolyte Boivin showed a preference for patriotic faience by reproducing through drawing and watercolor the pieces he had collected. Two reasons can explain this interest: firstly, his family's exile from Champagne during the German invasion of 1870 may have instilled in him a taste for patriotic and military objects; secondly, the occupation of his maternal grandfather, who ran a stoneware pottery factory in La Chapelle-aux-Pots, may have influenced his attraction to ceramics.

The items in this knowledgeable collector's collection were all acquired opportunistically in the field, hence maintaining their homogeneity due to the collection period: from the fall of Napoleon III until the eve of the Great War.