Napoleon's Athénienne (Washstand)
Martin-Guillaume Biennais and Marie-Joseph-Gabriel Genu (1764-1843; c. 1763-1810) · 1801-1804
An athénienne is a tripod in the antique manner, and this one was Napoleon's washstand. Three slender legs of yew curve gently outward under capitals of palmettes, and in each capital nestles a swan of chased gilt bronze. The swans hold up with their wings and necks a bronze ring with a running scroll frieze, which carries the silver basin chased with reeds and oak leaves. Dolphins and small blocks ornamented with bees link the legs to the lower shelf; swans and dolphins are antique motifs but also water creatures, apt for washing. The egg-shaped silver ewer bears palmettes, cornucopias and a Gorgon mask. Basin and ewer carry the marks of the goldsmith Biennais and his early collaborator Genu.
Delivered to Bonaparte for his bedroom at the Tuileries during the Consulate, the washstand stood in his room at the Élysée during the Hundred Days and went with him into exile at Longwood on Saint Helena. An engraved inscription states that it served the emperor until his last moments and fell by division of his estate to his sister Caroline. It passed to the Murat family and came to the Louvre in nineteen seventy-three in payment of inheritance tax.
Did You Know? An inscription on the basin records that Napoleon used this washstand until his last moments on Saint Helena.
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