Important breast jewel of the Grand Cross of the Royal Order of the Union presented by Louis of Holland to General Rampon on August 16, 1809. PART OF THE PHILIPPE MISSILLIER COLLECTION, Giquello Auction House, Drouot - Rooms 5-6, on March 6th & 7th, 2025.

**PHILIPPE MISSILLIER COLLECTION**
EARLY PERIOD - BOOKS - 17TH CENTURY FIREARMS
HUNTING ART - PHALERISTICS
18TH AND 19TH CENTURY WEAPONS - RUSSIAN ART
Friday, March 7, 2025 - 11am to 12pm
AFRICA AND OCEANIA - FAR EAST
Friday, March 7, 2025 - 2pm
ISLAMIC AND INDIAN ART
Drouot - rooms 5-6

**EXHIBITION**
Tuesday, March 4 from 11am to 6pm
Wednesday, March 5 from 11am to 6pm
Thursday, March 6 from 11am to 12pm
Phone during the exhibition +33(0)1 48 00 20 05

**GIQUELLO**
Alexandre Giquello
Violette Stcherbatcheff
5, rue La Boétie - 75008 Paris
+33 (0)1 47 42 78 01 - info@giquello.net
Subject to approval
No. 2002 389

**CONTACT**
Claire Richon
+33 (0)1 47 70 48 00
c.richon@giquello.net

**EXPERT**
Jean-Christophe Palthey, SFEP Expert
+41 (0)79 107 89 96
jc.palthey@gmail.com

**Lot No. 177 (of the sale)**
Rare Order of the Elephant Jewel, Barokenelefanten, with the monogram of King Christian VII (1766-1808)

Stylized elephant in gilt copper enamelled white, with raised trunk enamelled pink, eyes and forehead set with rhinestones, on its back a blue fringed carpet adorned with flowers and scrolls, decorated on the right side with a large Greek cross set with five rhinestones and on the left side with the painted monogram "C7" under a large royal crown. It is surmounted by a tower decorated with enamel painting of a masonry of pink stones and a door, the base and top of the tower are set with a circle of small stones. It is topped with a rotating ring decorated with flowers. A small Moorish mahout holding a spear is seated above its head.
Accidents, losses, and restorations of use
H. 78 mm - L. 60 mm - W. 28 mm - Weight: 67.75 g.
Denmark, late 18th century

Auction
60,000/80,000 €
Provenance:
- Former collections of the American Numismatic Society, New York, USA, dispersed during the auction organized by Morton & Eden and Sotheby's in London on May 24 and 25, 2006, No. 456.
Founded by King Christian I of Denmark in the mid-15th century, the Order of the Elephant is a single-class chivalric order. Regulated in 1693 and 1808, it is the most prestigious of the Danish orders.
This Order of the Elephant jewel is of the baroque type used from 1699 to 1801. It is adorned with the monogram of King Christian VII. Born in 1749, he ascended to the throne in 1766 and died in 1808. During his 42-year reign, he appointed 69 knights of the Order of the Elephant.
The order archives were destroyed in a fire in 1884, resulting in scant documentary sources on these jewels. However, according to surviving goldsmith invoices, only 24 new specimens seem to have been made during the 18th century to replace lost or too damaged specimens to be given to new knights. Alongside numerous repairs and monogram modifications, these invoices distinguish the supply of jewels in gold and diamonds from those in copper and faux stones.
With no further explanation on these two types of productions, gilded copper elephants are now presented as everyday wear jewelry, whereas at the time nothing should have distinguished them. Thus, a gilded copper elephant with the monogram of Christian VI (1730-1746) is preserved in the Danish royal collections at Rosenborg Castle (Barokenelefanten, inv. No. 12-54).
Apart from the rare specimens predating 1699 and those succeeding 1801 stored in the Danish royal collections and rare public or private collections, we have identified, in addition to the Rosenborg Castle specimen (the only one in gilded copper), only four other baroque-type Elephant jewels, all in gold, enamel, and diamonds:
- Napoleon's elephant, lost on the evening of the Battle of Waterloo, with the monogram erased, kept at the Historical Museum of Moscow (inv. No. GIM 112948KP-1733453).
- An elephant from one of Napoleon's brothers, with an unknown monogram, kept in a private collection.
- An unattributed elephant, with an unknown monogram, in the collections of the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg (inv. No. E-709).
- An elephant from a French private collection, heavily damaged, with the monogram erased, in the British market in 2005-2006.
Bibliography:
- BENCARD, Mogens, KAARSTED, Tage, Fra Korsridder til Ridderkors, Elefantordenens og Dannebrogordenens historie, Poul Kristensen Grafisk Viksomhed, 1993, pp.196-197.
- BERLIEN, J.H., Der Elephant-Orden und seine Ritter, Kopenhagen, 1846.
- COLLECTIF, Precious Gems, Jewellery from eight centuries, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 2000.
- STEVNSBORG, Lars, Kongeriget Danmarks Ordener Medaljer og Haederstegn, Syddansk Universitetsforlag 2005, p.55.
- TULARD, Jean (ed.), La berline de Napoléon, le mystère du butin de Waterloo, Albin Michel, Paris, 2012, pp. 226-227.**