Partie d'une serrure de porte du palais des Tuileries, détruit par un incendie en 1871
Door lock from the Tuileries Palace
1804c
Brass (Gilt)
17 x 10 cm
A brass interior door lock, originally gilded, with a capital ‘N’ inside a wreath with Zeus thunderbolt and acanthus leaf design.
This lock was recovered after the fire that destroyed the Tuileries Palace in 1871.
The Tuileries or Palais des Tuileries, was the main royal residence in Paris for the French Kings and stood on the right bank of the River Seine until it was deliberately set on fire by members of the Paris Commune in the upheaval following their suppression in 1871.
When Napoleon came to power in 1799, he made the Tuileries the official residence of the First Consul, taking up residence on 19 February 1800. Later, when he became Emperor he declared the Tuileries an Imperial Palace and the principal residence of the Empire.
Napoleon had the Tuileries redecorated in the Neoclassical Empire style by Percier and Fontaine and had it furnished by the best furniture makers of the day. He was to spend more time in the Tuileries than any other of his official residences, bidding his final farewell to the Palace on 11 June 1815 before leaving for what would become his final downfall and exile, after the Battle of Waterloo on 18 June 1815.