OFFICER'S BIT OF THE MEDICAL SERVICE, model 1845, Second Republic. 5851-A15

BRIDLE BIT FOR AN OFFICER OF THE HEALTH SERVICE, model 1845, Second Republic. 5851-A15

Straight branches, brass bosses depicting in relief the caduceus with a mirror framed by a branch of oak and laurel.

France.
Second Republic.
Very good condition, needs cleaning.

PROVENANCE:
Former collection of Hippolyte Marie-Joseph Boivin (Guermantes, 8th September 1857, Bouvresse 19th June 1912).
This scholar of the late 19th century assembled a collection of patriotic faïences of great importance, which was exhibited several times in French museums.
With a collector's temperament, Hippolyte Boivin gathered faïences from Rouen, Marseille, Strasbourg, Delft, Nevers, enamel dial watches from the First Empire, antique limbs, Norman and Picardian cabinets and clocks, chests and clocks from various periods, tapestries, noise-makers from all over France and even abroad.
His grandson recounts that H. Boivin and his wife traveled from village to village, purchasing all items of interest. These acquisitions enriched his own collections and those of the museum of Beauvais, of which he was the curator from 1889 to 1912. In this collecting endeavor, he also developed a passion for military memorabilia, mainly headgear, copperware, bridle bits, and various historical souvenirs.
He had a gallery built in his garden to house his military collections, which would later be displayed in the "Boivin room" of the Dejean barracks in Amiens, destroyed during the Second World War. Hippolyte Boivin showed his preference for patriotic faïence by replicating through drawing and watercolor the pieces he had collected. Two motives can explain this attraction: first, his family's exile from Champagne during the German invasion of 1870 may have instilled in him a taste for patriotic and military objects; second, his maternal grandfather's occupation, running a stoneware pottery factory in La Chapelle-aux-Pots, may have influenced his attraction to ceramics.

The objects constituting this enlightened amateur's collection were all acquired opportunistically, considering the period of collection: from the fall of Napoleon III until the eve of the Great War, their homogeneity was particularly well preserved.