A remarkable snuff box owned by Napoleon during his final days in exile
- An antique snuffbox owned by Napoleon Bonaparte
- Owned during his exile on St Helena, circa 1815-1821
- Offered with an unbroken 203-year chain of provenance
A lacquered snuff box dating from the early 19th Century, and measuring 5.5cm x 3cm x 2cm.
The lid is decorated with a chequerboard pattern line detail with gold coloured central cartouche.
Attached inside the lid is a silver engraved plaque, which bears the inscription:
“THIS BOX BELONGED TO NAPOLEON AND WAS GIVEN BY MADAME BERTRAND TO LIEUT. HAYNE R.A. AT ST HELENA 8TH MAY 1821”
The box is preserved unrestored in its original condition, with a beautifully worn patina and signs of frequent use.
Provenance:
Following his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, Napoleon was captured and exiled to the remote island of St Helena, 1,200 miles off the coast of Africa.
He was kept under constant guard by British soldiers, and forced to live in much-reduced circumstances. Tormented by his captors and plagued by loneliness and regret, he passed away on May 5, 1821.
This snuff box, well-used due to his frequent consumption, was amongst the artefacts he left behind on the island.
Napoleon's companion Emmanuel de Las Cases writes in his 1832 memoir The Memorial of Saint Helena.
"The Emperor, it is well known, was in the habit of taking snuff almost every minute... His snuff-box was speedily emptied; but he still continued to thrust his fingers into it, or to raise it to his nose, particularly when he was himself speaking."
The inscription inside the box states it was given by Madame Bertrand to Lieutenant R.A Hayne on May 8, 1821.
Madame Bertrand is Élisabeth Françoise 'Fanny' Dillon (1785 - 1836), a French noblewoman and wife of Count Henri Gatien Bertrand, (1773 - 1844), Napoleon's trusted aide-de-campe.
The loyal couple followed Napoleon into exile twice – first at Elba in 1814, then St Helena in 1815, where they remained until Napoleon's death in May 1821.
During this period Madame Bertrand was Napoleon's close attendant and secretary, and was present in his room at Longwood when he died.
Her husband Count Bertrand was one of the main executors of Napoleon's 'Last Will and Testament', which stated: “I bequeath to counts Bertrand and Montholon and to Marchand, the silver, jewels, plate, porcelain, furniture, books, arms, etc. and in general everywhich I owned on St Helena.”
Amongst these personal effects, Napoleon significantly lists “Three mahogany boxes, Nos. I. II. III., containing my snuff-boxes and other articles” and "1 small box for my tobacco".
On May 8, just three days after Napoleon's death, Madame Bertrand presented this snuff box to Lieutenant Richard Hayne (1804 - 1874) was a member of the Royal Artillery stationed on St Helena.
Hayne was also described as being in “close personal attendance” of Napoleon during his exile, and is listed as a member of the firing party at Napoleon's funeral on May 6.
Hayne went on to serve in Canada in 1830, and in 1838 became the first Commanding Officer of the Royal Canadian Artillery in New Brunswick. In 1898 the Dundee Herald reported that Hayne's daughter had auctioned her father's collection of Napoleon memorabilia at Sotheby's, confirming his ownership of such items.
Before leaving St Helena, Hayne evidently passed the box to another British soldier stationed on the island: Lieutenant Philip Ditmas, a member of the 66th regiment 1st battalion. The box then passed down by descent through five generations of the Ditmas family to the present day.
This is an exceptional piece of Napoleonic history with remarkable provenance.
As such, it represents a unique opportunity to acquire a museum-quality artefact and would take pride of place at the heart of any major history collection.
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