Document box with brass bands and corners made by BIENNAIS c.1800
Wooden document box by Biennais, c.1800, with brass bands, maker’s mark and two ingeniously concealed compartments.
Description
Wooden box with brass bands. Brass shield on lid. Engraved makers mark on lip of front. Two hidden compartments, one opened by pushing in middle screw on inside of top. Opens green leather compartments. Second opened by pushing a trigger in hole of front panel, between engraved words Biennais orfevre.
History & Context
Martin-Guillaume Biennais (1764–1843), a tabletier under the Ancien Régime, seized the opportunity presented by the Revolution’s abolition of guilds to expand his craft, notably becoming a goldsmith. He met General Bonaparte and crafted travel kits for him. A loyal client, Bonaparte—later Consul—granted him exclusive rights to supply tableware, a role he retained throughout the Empire. Biennais produced numerous services for Napoleon, as well as for other imperials like Joséphine, Hortense, Louis, and Jérôme Bonaparte. At the peak of his fame, he employed over eighty workers in his workshop on Rue Saint-Honoré.
The signature on this casket, lacking the “supplier to the Emperor” title, indicating it was made before the 1805 Coronation, during the Consulate a few years earlier. Biennais built his reputation on crafting caskets and kits from precious woods, meticulously fitted to hold utensils. His first delivery to Napoleon, still a general, was a travel kit for the Italian campaigns, containing silverware pieces. Thereafter, the Emperor consistently ordered caskets, kits, furniture, and all court silversmithing from Biennais.
Marks & Inscriptions
Biennais orfevre dry premier Consul
Additional photographs
