Travelling Case of Marie-Antoinette
Jean-Pierre Charpenat and François Joubert (silversmiths), Jean-Charles Lethien (cutler), Jean-Philippe Palma (cabinetmaker) · 1787-1788
A large rectangular chest of figured mahogany with gilt copper corners and hinges and a carrying handle on each side. On the lid an oval gilt plaque bears the letters M and A intertwined inside a laurel wreath. Inside, in fitted compartments, are ninety-four objects for washing, dressing, eating and writing in silver, porcelain, crystal, steel, ivory and ebony. Most of them carry the queen's monogram. Look at the engraved lock plate, where the cabinetmaker advertised himself: Palma, cabinetmaker and maker of travelling cases, presently in the Vieille rue du Temple opposite the Palais Cardinal, number thirty-four, Paris.
The case was made in seventeen eighty-seven to eighty-eight for Marie-Antoinette and was with her at the Tuileries. Confiscated in seventeen ninety-three, it was sent to the Mint in December seventeen ninety-four, presumably to be melted, but survived. It reached Italy, to the queen's brother Archduke Ferdinand, who abandoned it at Bergamo in seventeen ninety-six, and General Bonaparte then bought it as a present for Josephine. It was sold in Milan in eighteen hundred and four and stayed with the buyer's descendants until the Louvre acquired it in nineteen fifty-five.
Did You Know? Napoleon bought the executed queen's travelling case in Italy in 1796 as a gift for Josephine.
Unlock the Full Guide
Read every room and listen to every work in all museums with premium.