TWO GOLD FIDELITY RINGS GIVEN TO THE ROYAL CAUSE TO THE Viscount D'HARDOUINEAU, Restoration.

FLORILEGE 2024
Karl Benz vous invite à découvrir la troisième édition de la vente Florilège, un recueil de pièces remarquables, fruit d'une année de quête. Elle seront dispersées dans un écrin éphémère : le château de Quintin.
Samedi 29 juin 2024 à 14h


Karl Benz Commissaire-priseur
12bis Rue Hélène Boucher
22190 Plérin - France

Opérateur de ventes volontaires (OVV)
Date déclaration ou N° agrément : 163-2021
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CONTACT
Karl Benz
02 96 75 03 36
benz@karl-benz.com
https://www.karl-benz.com/fr/lot-45-9023-58_deux_anneaux_fidelite_or_formant_pair?p=7

EXPERT
Bertrand Malvaux, CNES.

Lot n° 58 (de la vente)
DEUX ANNEAUX DE FIDÉLITÉ EN OR DONNÉS À LA CAUSE ROYALE AU Vicomte D'HARDOUINEAU, Restauration.

https://www.interencheres.com/meubles-objets-art/florilege-2024-une-vente-dexception-625980/lot-77362822.html

1er anneau : 
Anneau de fidélité à la cause royale donné au Vicomte d’Hardouineau.
Bague en or rose 18 carats creux, de forme chevalière, unie, avec un chaton ovale, en or un peu plus pâle, portant sur le dessus deux épées en croix, avec le cri « Vive le Roi quand même ». Le pourtour du chaton gravé « 24 MAI 1815 ». Anneau gravé à l’avant à gauche du chaton « A DIEU MON AME / MON CŒUR AUX DAMES » et à droite « MA VIE AU ROI / L’HONNEUR A MOI ». À la place correspondante au chaton, un écusson en forme de cœur « Le Vte D’Hardouineau M al de Camp » orné des initiales « L.M.T. / P.A.F. / C. » correspondant aux membres de la famille royale (Louis XVIII, Marie-Thérèse, duchesse d’Angoulême, Charles-Philippe, comte d’Artois, Antoine, duc d’Angoulême, Ferdinand duc de Berry, Caroline, duchesse de Berry.
Taille 73.

France.

Restauration.

Bon état de conservation, chocs et déformations, accident, chaton scellé.

 

2nd anneau : 
Anneau de fidélité à la cause royale donné au Vicomte d’Hardouineau.
Bague en or rose 18 carats creux, de forme chevalière, unie, avec un chaton ovale, en or un peu plus pâle, portant sur le dessus deux épées en croix, avec le cri « Vive le Roi quand même ». Le pourtour du chaton gravé « YPRES 25 MARS 1815 ». Anneau gravé à l’avant à gauche du chaton « A DIEU MON AME / MON CŒUR AUX DAMES » et à droite « MA VIE AU ROI / L’HONNEUR A MOI ». L’intérieur de l’anneau gravé «d’Hardouineau» et d’un cœur orné des initiales « L.M.T.P.A.F.C. » correspondant aux membres de la famille royale (Louis XVIII, Marie-Thérèse duchesse d’Angoulême, Charles-Philippe comte d’Artois, Antoine duc d’Angoulême, Ferdinand duc de Berry, Caroline, duchesse de Berry).
Trace de poinçon d’orfèvre se terminant par un B.
Taille 64.

France.

Restauration. 

Bon état usures d’usage.

Estimation : 7 500 € - 8 500 €



BIOGRAPHIE

Vicomte d’HARDOUINEAU : Aide de camp de Louis XVIII (Source : https://librairie-ancienne-clagahe.fr/livre/memoires-secrets-et-inedits-pour-servir-a-lhistoire-contemporaine-sur-lexpedition-degypte-par-m-j-michel-de-niello-sargy-sur-lexpedition-de-russie-par-le-comte-de-beauvollier-sur-lexil/ ). Antoine-Philippe d’Hardouineau a fait la campagne de 1792 dans les gardes-du-corps du roi. Fin 1795, il prit rang dans le 2nd régiment de la cavalerie noble, et fut formé à l’armée de Condé. Puis Louis XVIII fit appel au Vicomte, lors de son arrivée à l’armée de Condé. Il lui sera fidèle et l’accompagnera dans son exil. Chevalier de LH le 26 novembre 1814.
Sources base Leonor et Roglo :
Reçu Garde du Corps du Roi le 3 janvier 1800
Brigadier le 1 nov. 1815
En campagne en 1815 à Gand
 • Maréchal des logis des gardes du roi, compagnie du Luxembourg
 • Maréchal des Logis des Gardes du Corps du roi
 • Né le 14 juillet 1788
 • Baptisé le 20 juillet 1788 - Chaingy (Loiret)
 • Décédé le 1er mars 1865 - Orléans (Loiret)
 • Âge au décès : 76 ans
Chevalier de Saint-Louis, chevalier de la légion d'honneur et de Saint Ferdinand d'Espagne
 Garde puis brigadier au Ier régiment de la garde d'honneur de l'Empereur Napoléon Ier de 1813 à 1814. Matricule N°1821



HISTORIQUE

Devant le retour inopiné de l’Empereur en France en février 1815, Louis XVIII quitte Paris pour Gand. 



Rings with two swords motif:

The military personnel of the royal army who followed him to Belgium received a certificate signed by the Duke of Berry, attesting to their service in that army. The officers decided to have a ring made with two crossed swords and the motto: "My life to the king, my heart to the ladies." "This ring, recently made, also contains the initials of the royal family: L, MT, P, A, F, C. (Louis XVIII, Marie-Thérèse Duchess of Angoulême, Louis-Philippe Duke of Orléans, Antoine Duke of Angoulême, Ferdinand Duke of Berry, Charles Count of Artois). It also bears the name of the recipient, along with the date and place of crossing the border. These rings are only made or delivered upon presentation of the certificate.

• One ring belonged to Jacques Brasseur, artillery train conductor in the King's Guard Companies. It is dated on the bezel: Ghent, March 17, 1815. The inside is engraved "Brasseur Jacques artillery conductor of the Royal Guard" with a coat of arms bearing the initials: L, M.T, P, A, F, C. This conductor was likely part of the artillery trains in the Guard Companies.

• Another example is dated March 25, 1815, the bezel is a small hinged oval box serving as a reliquary; it bears the inscription "Mis de Monpezat, Major staff officer of the Mre de la Gre", and at the height of the bezel, in a heart-shaped coat of arms, the capital letters L. MT. P. A. F. Similarly, another example from March 1815 belonged to Gérard de Contamine d'Arimont, Guard of the King's bodyguards.
On a ring of the same model from the Valles family (or Hozier), the bezel also forms a small reliquary box, dated "Ypres March 25, 1815."

• An example from the former Thierry Marais collection attributed to a guard of the King's bodyguards.

• Three other examples in private collections.

• An example attributed to G.M.G. Herman, with "GHENT. 3 MAY 1815" on the perimeter of the bezel.

• A ring given to Louis François Xavier Duliège d'Aunis (or d'Arrest), chevau-léger of the King's Military Household, awarded on May 24, 1815 (private collection).

• A ring given to Ferdinand de Cacheleu (1784), guard of the King's bodyguards, at "GHENT, MAY 28, 1815."

• A ring given to Chevalier de Canolle dated "Ghent / March 1815," featuring a miniature of Louis XVIII in the bezel background.

• Two rings given to Viscount d'Hardouineau, aide-de-camp of Louis XVIII, Guard of the King's Bodyguards, one dated May 24, 1815, and the other dated May 25, 1815 in Ypres.

Rings with specific models for the King's Household:

As Gabriel Cottreau wrote in 1904 in an article published in the magazine La Sabretache: "The Restoration is the only period in our history where military personnel have been seen wearing rings recalling their service in a unit or their participation in a campaign. This practice began within the King's Household and spread to the companies of the Maison Rouge: gendarmes, chevau-légers, and musketeers, as well as in the company of the grenadiers à cheval, mainly when these units were disbanded." Upon the disbandment of Louis XVIII's Maison Rouge, the officers of the companies were given a gold ring with the company's distinctive emblem on the bezel as a rallying symbol. Thus, rings for the Musketeers were decorated with the cross of each Company, with the number 1 or 2 in the center of the cross; for the Gendarmes, Jupiter's spindle was adorned with the company's motto "Quo jubet iratus Jupiter"; for the Chevau-Légers, the fleur-de-lis Thunderbolt with the motto "Sensère Gigantes" and below, the date of the company's creation "1593"; the ring for the Grenadiers à cheval was in silver or vermeil with a flaming grenade.


These rings are rare, and thanks to the prestigious Raoul and Jean Brunon collections acquired by the state in 1967, the Museum of the Army has in its collections a ring of the Grenadiers à Cheval (currently exhibited at the Château de l'Empéri in Salon de Provence);

• a second copy was reproduced in the early notebooks of La Sabretache (possibly the same copy from the Brunon collection?). Gabriel Cottreau, in the article mentioned at the beginning of our discussion, writes: "It is a tradition in our paternal family, where we had a great-uncle musketeer in 1814 and 1815, that, a few days before ceasing their service, the musketeers were presented by their leaders to the Duchess of Angoulême to bid her farewell. During this audience, the princess, after expressing her satisfaction at being among true French knights, had trays laden with silver rings brought in and distributed them to the musketeers. My great-uncle was part of the 2nd company, which would explain the metal of the ring still preserved by his descendants. The ring is plain, with a shield-shaped bezel bearing imaginary coat of arms whose meaning has always escaped us."
• An example of the Grenadiers à Cheval model: belonged to Perrot.
• An example of the Grenadiers à Cheval model: belonged to Delessert.
• Lieutenant-Colonel Titeux, in his History of the King's Household, describes a ring that belonged to the Count of Baillon, with the initials "L.M.T.P.A.P." engraved inside the ring, further stating "The Count of Baillon, Black Musketeer."
• An example of the Grenadiers à Cheval model: belonged to J. Bondele (silver bezel).
• An example of the Grenadiers à Cheval model: belonged to J. Galabert (vermeil bezel).
• An example of the Grenadiers à Cheval model: belonged to Louis Mougin Guard of the King's Bodyguards in 1822 (copper bezel).

• A gilded bronze example attributed to the grenadiers à cheval, with a circular bezel adorned with a flaming grenade encircled by the corps' motto "Undique Terror, Undique Letum" (everywhere terror, everywhere death), surrounded by two cartridges engraved with "Honour" and "Fidelity", the interior featuring a raised faith symbol, originating from the Canolle family.
• An example of the Grenadiers à Cheval model: belonged to B Smidtte.

SOURCES:

• History of the King's Military Household, Eugène Titeux, Paris, 1890.

• Military Rings of 1815 and 1824, Gabriel Cottreau, Carnets de la Sabretache, Paris, March 1904.

• The ring in France throughout history, Maximin Deloche, Librairie de Paris, Firmin-Didot et Cie, 56 rue Jacob.