ARTILLERY OFFICER'S SABER WHICH BELONGED TO GENERAL François René de POMMEREUL, Ancient Monarchy, reign of Louis XVI.

ARTILLERY OFFICER'S SABER WHICH BELONGED TO GENERAL François René de POMMEREUL, Ancient Monarchy, reign of Louis XVI.

https://www.interencheres.com/meubles-objets-art/objets-dart-mobilier-xviiie-tableaux-anciens-et-modernes-souvenirs-du-general-de-pommereul-624572/lot-76009922.html

Public sale on March 21, 2024 at 2:00 p.m.: ART OBJECTS, 18th century FURNITURE, ANCIENT AND MODERN PAINTINGS - SOUVENIRS OF GENERAL DE POMMEREUL.
LAVAL AUCTIONS.
Masters NUGUES & DROUELLE
47 Rue du Bourny
53000 Laval - France
Such. 02 43 68 29 03
e-mail: contact@lavalencheres.fr
Selling fees :
22% including tax as a volunteer
Link on Interencheres:
https://www.interencheres.com/meubles-objets-art/objets-dart-mobilier-xviiie-tableaux-anciens-et-modernes-souvenirs-du-general-de-pommereul-624572

Gilded brass frame. Guard on one branch, octagonal mumps. Pommel in the shape of a lion's head. Wooden handle covered in black waxed calfskin with copper filigree. Curved blade with gilded hollow sides on its first third of military trophies, floral decorations in oriental style, length of the blade 83.7 cm, width at the heel 4.4 cm. Fully brass scabbard without decoration, bracelets and pitons lined with protruding moldings, brass bail rings, steel dart.
France.
Ancient Monarchy, reign of Louis XVI.
Good condition, gilding absent, blade with oxidation from use.

Estimate: 1,500/2,500

NOTE :
This saber is most certainly his artillery officer's saber.

ORIGIN :
General de Pommereul, then his direct lineal descendants, remained in the family castle of B….

HISTORY:
Born December 12, 1745 in Fougères (Ille-et-Vilaine). Died on January 5, 1823 in Paris.
Ancestry: Son of Louis François POMMEREUL (1711-1751), sieur de LA GAUMERAIS, king's attorney in the seneschal of Fougères, and Anne Renée BICHON.
Career: Midshipman of artillery on September 8, 1764, artillery student on November 30, 1765, lieutenant of artillery on June 15, 1766, captain of artillery on May 9, 1778, lieutenant-colonel of the artillery of the colonies on November 1 1786, returned to the metropolitan artillery with his rank of captain on October 20, 1786.
Lieutenant in the Toul artillery regiment on June 15, 1766.
Participated in 1769 in the campaign of Lieutenant General de Vaux against the troops of Pascal Paoli in Corsica.
Captain in the La Fère artillery regiment from October 20, 1786 to September 12, 1787.
Having left on leave in Naples on July 14, 1787, he enlisted in the service of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies on the following November 23 with the rank of colonel.
Brigadier of the armies and inspector general of artillery and engineers of the kingdoms of Naples, Sicily and the presidencies of Tuscany on January 5, 1788, he was promoted to field marshal on August 12, 1790.
Removed from the list of emigrants in 1796 and returned to France, he was reintegrated into the French Army with the rank of artillery brigadier general on October 13, 1796.
Member of the central artillery committee on November 13, 1796, he was promoted to artillery division general on the following November 16.
Placed in non-activity on November 7, 1800, he was named prefect of Indre-et-Loire on November 30, 1800. On September 23, 1804, he had the first official bust of Emperor Napoleon erected in Chinon. Passionate about history and literature, he also had the tomb of Agnès Sorel restored and a bust of Descartes installed in the room where he was born. He also gives free rein to his visceral hatred of the Catholic religion (his name appears in Sylvain Maréchal's Dictionary of Ancient and Modern Atheists) and of the nobility of the Ancien Régime (despite his undeniable noble origins).
On December 7, 1805, he was named prefect of the North, a position he held until November 30, 1810.
Made Baron of the Empire by letters patent of September 9, 1810.
State Councilor on October 5, 1810, he was appointed director of the printing press and bookstore on January 5, 1811 in place of Count Portalis.
Retired as major general July 7, 1811.
Appointed governor of La Fère at the end of 1813, he capitulated on February 27, 1814 to the Prussian army and took refuge in Brittany.
Reinstated in the Council of State on March 20, 1815, he was one of the signatories of the deliberation of March 25 aimed at excluding the Bourbons from the throne of France. He was then sent to the 5th military division (Haut-Rhin and Bas-Rhin) as extraordinary commissioner responsible for purifying the local administration.
Proscribed by the royal decree of July 24, 1815, he had to go into exile in Belgium and his retirement pension was suspended on April 11, 1816. In 1819, however, he was authorized to return to France and reside in Paris.
General Baron Thiébault, whose judgments do not generally shine with indulgence, speaks of him in these terms: “As for General Pommereul, what I had learned from his scientific and literary works, from the missions he had fulfilled , in his capacity finally, was far below what I found in him. Few men combined such varied and comprehensive education with more nervous speech. His repartee was always lively, fair and firm, and when he began a discussion, he maintained it with great superiority, just as, when he took up a subject, he developed it with as much order. and depth than clarity; and all these advantages he completed with a noble presence and a face which revealed his character no less than his sagacity. He is one of the most remarkable men I have ever known. »
Source: https://www.academiedemarine.com/documents/biographies/POMMEREUL.pdf