Precious and unique diamond-encrusted Legion of Honor star offered by Napoleon I to the King of Rome in January 1814. Created by the silversmith François-Regnault Nitot. From the Philippe Missillier collection, to be auctioned at Giquello Auction House, Drouot - rooms 5-6, on March 6th and 7th, 2025.

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no. 2002 389

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**Lot no. 179 (from the sale)**
Precious and unique diamond Legion of Honor star offered by Napoleon I to the King of Rome in January 1814
Work of the goldsmith François-Regnault Nitot

Star in silver of the 4th type with five double pointed rays, the obverse set with diamonds, the reverse with opaque white enamel. It is surrounded by a translucent green enamel vegetal crown, visible between the double points, formed by a branch of oak leaves on the left, and laurel on the right, linked between the lower points by a red enamel knot and joining the crown between the upper points. The central medallion is in gold. The obverse in three parts presents the profile of the Emperor on the left, surrounded by a laurel crown against a radiant background set with diamonds. The blue enamel listel bears the legend "NAPOLEON EMP. OF THE FRENCH", punctuated by a five-point star. The reverse in two parts presents the French Eagle, head to the right, with lowered wings, trampling a lightning bolt, placed on a "azure field" surrounded by a beaded rank and a night-blue enamel listel bearing the order's motto "HONOR AND COUNTRY", with six small bees separated by a five-pointed star in exergue. The articulated imperial crown has twelve arches resting on fleurons, the obverse in silver set with diamonds, the reverse in engraved gold. It is surmounted by a globe bearing a cross on which the suspension ring completely set with diamonds is fixed. Hair and minimal chips to the white enamel on the reverse and foliage under the crown.
H. 68.3 mm - W. 42.5 mm - Weight: 26.67 g
France, 1814.

Estimate:
150,000/200,000 €
Preserved in a red morocco case with the large imperial arms of later manufacture.
Provenance:
- Napoléon François Charles Joseph Bonaparte (1811-1832), King of Rome (1811-1814), Napoleon II, Emperor of the French (April 4-6, 1814), Prince of Parme (1814-1817), Duke of Reichstadt (1818-1832), died without issue.
- Marie-Louise of Habsburg-Lorraine (1791-1847), Empress of the French (1810-1815), Duchess of Parme, Piacenza and Guastalla (1816-1847), mother of the above and his heir.
- Leopold of Habsburg-Lorraine (1823-1898), Archduke of Austria and General, godson and universal legatee of Marie-Louise, died without issue.
- Rainier of Habsburg-Lorraine (1827-1913), Archduke of Austria, commander-in-chief of the Landwehr, art lover, brother and heir of the above. Married in 1852, to Marie-Caroline of Habsburg-Teschen (1825-1915), with no issue.
- Frederick of Habsburg-Teschen (1856-1936), Archduke of Austria, Duke of Teschen, Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial and Royal Army, nephew of the previous, and then by descent.
- Sotheby's, London, June 23, 1997, Lot No. 470.
- Private collection

The history of the decorations of Napoleon's son and Marie-Louise symbolically summarizes his tragic destiny. Born King of Rome, he was decorated with the Legion of Honor and the Order of the Iron Crown on March 20, 1811, the day of his birth. It was the chancellors Lacépède and Marescalchi who, after the baptism ceremony celebrated in the Tuileries chapel, hung the ribbons of the two orders on his cradle. As a symbol of his imperial heir status, he never removed the red sash, both in iconography and during official ceremonies, so he wore it during his baptism at Notre-Dame on June 9, and also in daily life.

François I, Emperor of Austria, his grandfather and godfather, appointed him a Grand Cross of the Order of Saint Stephen and had a significant plaque in diamonds sent to him, spectacularly evaluated by the newspapers at one and a half million francs. Although French royal tradition prevented the Dauphin from wearing a foreign order, Napoleon diplomatically had to accept this honor for his son. However, its presentation by Prince Schwarzenberg, the Austrian ambassador, took place after the baptism, during a discreet ceremony on June 27 at Saint-Cloud, in the absence of the parents of the King of Rome who lay in his cradle, watched over by his governess Mme de Montesquiou. After his establishment on October 18, 1811, the King of Rome was decorated with the order of the Reunion. In the 1813 imperial Almanac, he also appeared as a Grand Knight of the Order of the Three Golden Fleeces, but the order was then only a memory. Until he turned two, the young prince likely only wore ribbons without insignia, but starting in 1813, as he began to wear small buttoned garments, some of which are now preserved at the Fontainebleau castle, small plates bordered by Biennais were sewn onto them, as well as miniature metal decorations of the orders of the Legion of Honor, the Iron Crown, and of the Reunion.

In 1814, the Emperor decided that his son, like him, should have diamond insignia. In his work on The Jewels of the Crown of France, Bernard Morel describes the conditions under which these precious insignia were given to him: "The imperial child, entitled King of Rome, appeared at court as soon as he could, dressed like a full-grown sovereign. At the beginning of 1813, when he was barely two years old, it was necessary to make a hatband for him, supplied by François-Regnault Nitot (...), at the price of 98,296.87 francs. In early 1814, as small uniforms were being prepared for the King of Rome, François-Regnault Nitot delivered, on January 6, a shoulder strap, a plaque, and a Legion of Honor star (...). The shoulder strap (...), for a total of 70,332.37 francs. The Legion of Honor plaque (...), costing 27,586.50 francs (...). The star, made of 179 small brilliants and 68 roses, cost 2,032 francs. These jewels of the little King of Rome, valued at nearly 200,000 gold francs, were considered his personal property, and Marie-Louise also took them in 1814."

The National Archives hold precious documents related to these three jewels, ordered by Nitot by Countess de Montesquiou, governess of the Children of France at the request of the Emperor, delivered to her on January 6, then sent to the Duke of Cadore, General Intendant of the Crown for inspection on January 12. The bill matching the inspection, the Emperor decided on January 21 to allocate a fund of 99,995.87 francs to Count de Montesquiou, Grand Chamberlain, to settle it. The inspection report and the Nitot house invoice precisely describe the number and quality of the stones used in each of these jewels and their prices. Thus, the count of the Legion of Honor star delivered by Nitot on January 6, 1814, and its comparison with the specimen that has come down to us, establish that it contains precisely the same number of stones in each of the three categories and thus identifies it with certainty as the one made for the King of Rome. In addition to this perfect matching of the numbers, several factual elements should be highlighted. The diamond stars are of great rarity. Indeed, reserved for members of the imperial family, they could exceptionally be awarded by the Emperor as a mark of special esteem. However, victims of the 19th-century regime changes and their intrinsic value, they have often been modified or dismantled, explaining why very few examples have come down to us. Furthermore, as unique works by jewelers, all have different designs, so it is impossible for two stars to contain the same number of diamonds.

On January 23, 1814, before joining the army to defend his throne against the coalition of Europe, the Emperor gathered in the Tuileries Marshal's Hall the officers of the national guard led by Marshal Moncey and entrusted the protection of Empress Marie-Louise and the King of Rome to them. Immortalized by a sketch by Baron Gros, this scene depicts the King of Rome in uniform displaying a Legion of Honor sash (Fontainebleau Castle, deposit of the Malmaison Castle, MM 40-47 1330). Did he wear his new diamond decorations? No one knows, and as history tragically accelerated, the opportunity to display these symbols of imperial power would never present itself again.

On March 29, 1814, the Empress and her son left Paris, and by May 21, they had reached Vienna. An intermediate period opened for the King of Rome, who, briefly proclaimed Emperor of the French in early April, was eventually titled Prince of Parme by the Fontainebleau Treaty of April 11, 1814 (as the heir of the new state entrusted to his mother, now Duchess of Parme). In Vienna, accompanied by Mme de Montesquiou and a retinue of French people, he continued to wear his imperial decorations alongside the Saint Stephen plaque. Artists seized on this highly political subject and decorated the young prince with either French or Austrian decorations, depending on the nationality of the sponsor, as evidenced by the numerous miniatures by Isabey featuring the Prince of Parme from 1814-1815 (Schatzkammer, Vienna), or the bust by the sculptor Renaud (Fontainebleau, deposit of the Louvre Museum, 1984, MS 427).

This freedom would soon be taken away from him, along with his status as the Emperor's son. In a letter to Louis XVIII on October 13, 1814, Talleyrand reported, "Bonaparte's son is no longer treated as he was in the early days of his arrival in Vienna. There is less show and more simplicity. He was stripped of the Legion of Honor sash and replaced it with that of Saint Stephen." His appointment as Grand Prefect of the Constantinian Order of Saint George and the granting of the Senate insignia of the order (Grand Cross) by his mother on February 22, 1816 did not soften the bitterness he felt at no longer being able to wear his French decorations. An anecdote, perhaps apocryphal, reported in the History of Napoleon II, King of Rome, is enlightening. Concerning a portrait of the prince executed by a certain Hummel, the author recounts, "When the portrait was about to be finished, and the question of costume arose, the painter said to Count de Dietrichstein: Which order should I decorate the prince with? Saint Stephen's Order, which the Emperor sent him at birth, replied the count. But, Count, exclaimed the child, I had many others. Yes, but you no longer wear them. The King of Rome lowered his head and remained silent." This ban was one of the points of the educational program put in place as early as 1815 by Count Dietrichstein, his governor, who testified, "I took the decorations he had worn for so long. To avoid making him conceited, the Saint Stephen plaque is only very rarely given to him."

His title as Prince of Parme having been revoked after the Paris Treaty of June 10, 1817, he was finally titled Duke of Reichstadt in 1818. As he was denied the Golden Fleece which adorned his archduke cousins, he would receive no more decorations until his death on July 22, 1832. Buried in the Colonel's uniform of the Gustav Wasa Regiment that he commanded, his catafalque was that of an Austrian prince, simply adorned with the collar of the Order of Saint Stephen and the sash of the Constantinian Order of Saint George of Parme (see the watercolor stored at the Albertina in Vienna).

Silent, like everything related to his French life, the story of his diamond Legion of Honor is then written in blanks. As reported in 1832 by Count de Montbel in his work The Duke of Reichstadt, "in the uncertainty of his death, having no current fortune of which he could dispose, the prince had made no will." His mother inherited all his possessions and gave some mementos to the prince's entourage, including saddled horses, a clock, a pair of pistols, but no trace of the Legion of Honor in diamonds.

It was not until the death of Marie-Louise on December 17, 1847, that attempts were made to find them in her estate. By her will dated May 22, 1844 kept in Parme, she had appointed as universal legatee "my cousin and godson Archduke Leopold, the eldest son of my uncle Archduke Renier and my aunt Archduchess Elisabeth." This will is accompanied by three documents: a list of 102 bequests for members of the imperial family and individuals, a second list of 10 bequests, and a declaration by the Grand Chamberlain and morganatic husband of the duchess, Charles de Bombelles, regarding a codicil dictated on his deathbed. The decorations of 1814 were likely hidden in bequest No. 26, "I bequeath to my cousin and godson Archduke Leopold the case with the diamonds that belonged to my beloved son the Duke of Reichstadt, and which came back to me after his death."

To shed light on this will, it must be read with the inventory entitled "Note of the Jewels comprising part of Her Majesty's Casket, which remain deposited at the Treasury, including and forming the First Section indicated to the Regulatory Provisions of January 9, 1836." This list contains the most precious jewels of the former empress. Made in January 1848 from an inventory of 1836, it totals an evaluation of the ensemble at 2,018,647.40 Austrian lire. Two lines represent nearly 38% of the ensemble's value; they are: the necklace offered by the Emperor on the occasion of the King of Rome's birth made by Nitot and delivered in June 1811, now at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, valued at 365,700 Austrian lire, and "1 case containing the diamonds from the Prince's succession" estimated at 390,264 lire.

Underneath is an enigmatic line "2 cases each containing a Maltese cross," but instead of the estimate, the mention "they did not exist at the time of the estimate" is noted. Inventoried in 1836 among the treasures placed with the Duke of Reichstadt's diamonds, these Maltese crosses were certainly not simple enameled gold crosses. To whom could they have belonged? Were they the plaque and star of the Legion of Honor in diamonds from 1814? The plaque and jewel of the Saint Stephen's Order from 1811? While nothing allows a definite conclusion, it is possible to suggest that their classification indicates that these two decorations also came from the Duke of Reichstadt, and that thus, between 1836 and 1848, they had been associated with his diamonds.

Comprising nearly 20% of Marie-Louise's total jewel value, her son's diamonds are the main and most mysterious part. Reminder that at his death, the Duke of Reichstadt, a career military man in a strict and unostentatious court, "having no fortune," certainly had not acquired any diamonds personally. Neutrally named "brillants," this appellation suited the hatband and shoulder strap devoid of any Napoleonic symbolism. It was less apt for the French decorations, which, representing only a small part of the ensemble's value, were either omitted or mentioned with the generic term "Maltese cross."

The diamonds given by Marie-Louise to her nephew Leopold of Habsburg could only be those offered to the King of Rome by Napoleon in 1813 and 1814, for a value of 198,247 francs, and possibly the Saint Stephen's Order plaque and jewel given by his grandfather in 1811 for a value of 192,017 francs (a significant amount, but newspapers mentioned one and a half million in 1811), thus totaling the 390,264 Austrian lire of 1848. Considering that the main pieces were likely dismantled or sold, the Legion of Honor star of the King of Rome, which remained in the Austrian imperial family until 1997, is today a major witness of the Empire's final days.

François-Regnault Nitot (1779–1853), son of the jeweler Marie-Étienne Nitot (1750-1809), with whom he was associated, became, following his father, the jeweler to Emperor Napoleon I. He worked on the Crown's jewels but also delivered private jewels for Marie-Louise and the King of Rome. The Nitot & Fils house, founded by his father, was the precursor of the Chaumet house.