DESSIN ORIGINAL POUR LE PATRON D'UNE PATTELETTE DE SABRETACHE DU 6ème RÉGIMENT, 2ème TYPE 1792-1794, Révolution.

ORIGINAL DRAWING FOR THE PATTERN OF A SABRETACHE PATTELETTE OF THE 6th REGIMENT, 2nd TYPE 1792-1794, Revolution.

Graphite drawing cut out in the shape of a tablet decorated with a large number “6” framed by an oak branch and a laurel branch tied together by a ribbon bearing the inscription “HUSSARDS”, in lower part a beam of lictor placed horizontally.
H 27.5 cm, width 25 cm.

France.
French Revolution (1792-1794).
Very good state of conservation.

NOTE :
Two sabretaches can be compared to this drawing:
1/ The collections of the Army Museum exhibited in Salon de Provence at the Château de l'Emperi, former Raoul and Jen Brunon collections, have a complete uniform of the 7th hussar regiment whose sabretache is identical to the drawing presented above, with the exception of the number “7” and not “6”.
2/ I published in the 1993 issue of the magazine of the Royal Army Museum of Brussels, Belgium "MILITARIA BELGICA", an article devoted to sabretaches from the royal collections. One of them is a very beautiful officer's sabretache of the 6th hussar regiment second type 1792, very similar to the drawing presented, but without the lictor's fasces at the bottom and with the sun shining at the top.

HISTORY:
The French revolutionary period shook society and the army, the sabretaches used under the Monarchy were abandoned in 1791, the royal monogram gave way to revolutionary symbols.
To the six hussar regiments existing under the Old Monarchy were added, from 1791, the formations of mounted volunteers. In 1793, all of these troops were reorganized into twelve then fourteen regiments. Bodies with colorful uniforms, the hussars love particularities, the Revolution will offer them an opportunity conducive to fantasies, but wartime will not be born the richness of the uniforms that the Empire knew...
During this historical period for France, several models of sabretaches were used concurrently, no absolutely reliable classification can be put forward; nevertheless, we believe we can propose a chronology based on the evolution of the emblems.
Thus, for my part, I distinguish four types and one model:
- First type, from January 1, 1791: these are the sabretaches of the Old Monarchy whose monogram was replaced by the regiment number.
- Second type, from 1792: the tab covered with cloth, embroidered with a lictor's bundle framed by two oak branches and surmounted by a radiant sun.
- Third type, from 1792: the tab covered with cloth embroidered with a lictor's bundle framed by two oval medallions, each surrounded by a laurel branch; the one placed to the right of the harness is embroidered with the letters “RF”, for “République Française”, the medallion placed to the left of the harness is embroidered with the regimental number), the harness is topped with a red cap (called Phrygian cap ; at the bottom, two oak branches are embroidered.
- Fourth type, from 1794: is identical to the third type, except for the red cap which, gradually, was replaced by a civic crown from the Directory, to disappear definitively under the Consulate.
- Model Year II (1794-1795): the braid framing the tab becomes tricolor. This text does not seem to have been very applied, we only know of one authentic sabretache of this model, from the 12th hussar regiment.
- Les Fantaisies: certain regiments have sabretaches made with specific decorations, for example with a tree of liberty embroidered in the center…