French│Empire Collection
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A small private Napoleonic collection in Sydney, Australia
Napoleon
Accounts for Napoleon's Coronation Shoes designed by Isabey
Memoire des Chaussures pour le scare de Napoleon - Isabey
Memoire des Chaussures pour le scare de Napoleon -
Accounts for the designing and making of Napoleon's Coronation shoes
1804
This document is the account for the changes involved in making the shoes for Napoleon's coronation and is signed at the bottom by Isabey.
1804
This document is the account for the changes involved in making the shoes for Napoleon's coronation and is signed at the bottom by Isabey.
Jean-Baptiste Isabey, who also designed the coronation robes, was a friend of both Napoleon and Joséphine. In 1805 Isabey became ‘ Dessinateur du Cabinet et des Cérémonies, Directeur des Décorations de l'Opéra and Conservateur adjoint du Musée Impérial’, and was as such responsible for organising all of their intimate and official parties at the Tuileries, Saint-Cloud and at Malmaison. He may, however, be best known for his outstanding miniatures, while he also professed in lithographies, oil painting and as a portrait painter.
Below are designs by Isabey for the shoes used at Napoleon's coronation. These designs were sold by Christies in October 2004 and are highly likely to be for the shoes mentioned in the above document.
Year 12
15 Fructidor
Year 13
7 Vendémiaire
24 Brumaire
15 Fructidor
Year 13
7 Vendémiaire
24 Brumaire
Account of the shoes made and provided for His Majesty the Emperor, by Jacques his regular shoemaker during the course of the year 12 and year 13, by order of Mr Isabey, designer to the Imperial Cabinet.
Provided a pair of shoes in white glove leather, embroidered in gold, to serve as a model for the crowning shoes, with gold embroidery following the drawings of the model, with golden braid in solid gold on golden fabric, the so-called shoes lined with white silk and stitched with the best workmanship and precision conform to the drawing, bearing holes and small points (pattern sheet) related to the workmanship and the furnishing estimated .....
A pair of shoes for the Sacre (crowning) done in white velvet embroidered with matte gold with portions bearing designs done with small stitches, the border with gold braid in solid gold and golden fabric, silk lining inside, and packaged with care, drawing well-executed, all valuables in regard to work and supplies estimated......
Provided a pair of dancing shoes in a goatskin, cords, lined in white silk and houillée (?)....
Total .... Francs .....
Adjusted the sum to 660 F
Six hundred and sixty francs
Isabey.
Provided a pair of shoes in white glove leather, embroidered in gold, to serve as a model for the crowning shoes, with gold embroidery following the drawings of the model, with golden braid in solid gold on golden fabric, the so-
A pair of shoes for the Sacre (crowning) done in white velvet embroidered with matte gold with portions bearing designs done with small stitches, the border with gold braid in solid gold and golden fabric, silk lining inside, and packaged with care, drawing well-
Provided a pair of dancing shoes in a goatskin, cords, lined in white silk and houillée (?)....
Adjusted the sum to 660 F
Six hundred and sixty francs
Isabey.
250 F
400 F
24 F
________
674 F