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Lot Essay
These two artefacts are mementoes of Napoleon’s strategic mind. While on his campaigns, he would spend a lot of time and energy studying the latest movements of his opponents. In his recent biography Napoleon the Great, Andrew Roberts mentions Napoleon came up with an idea to track enemy mobilization with the use of playing cards:
“The name or number of each regiment is to be entered on a playing-card, and the cards are to be changed from one compartment to another according to the movements of the regiments.”
The reference on the playing card is apparently to the British admiral John Thomas Duckworth, who commanded the Royal Navy during the unsuccessful Dardanelles Operations which took place in the early months of 1807 as part of the Anglo-Turkish War (1807-1809).
While at St. Helena, Napoleon resided in Old Longwood while awaiting for the more sophisticated residence of New Longwood to be finished. Coincidentally, the cabinet-maker George Bullock who was commissioned by the British Government to supply the furniture, was the brother of William Bullock who had acquired his Waterloo carriage. The map, which was Napoleon's possession at St Helena, might have been brought back to England by Sir Hudson Lowe alongside many other pieces of furniture and memorabilia (d. 1844) after the former Emperor's death in 1821.
“The name or number of each regiment is to be entered on a playing-card, and the cards are to be changed from one compartment to another according to the movements of the regiments.”
The reference on the playing card is apparently to the British admiral John Thomas Duckworth, who commanded the Royal Navy during the unsuccessful Dardanelles Operations which took place in the early months of 1807 as part of the Anglo-Turkish War (1807-1809).
While at St. Helena, Napoleon resided in Old Longwood while awaiting for the more sophisticated residence of New Longwood to be finished. Coincidentally, the cabinet-maker George Bullock who was commissioned by the British Government to supply the furniture, was the brother of William Bullock who had acquired his Waterloo carriage. The map, which was Napoleon's possession at St Helena, might have been brought back to England by Sir Hudson Lowe alongside many other pieces of furniture and memorabilia (d. 1844) after the former Emperor's death in 1821.