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Wine Glass engraved with crown and JN c.1807-1813
Wine glass engraved with crown and JN for Jerome Napoleon
Description
Wine glass engraved with a crown and JN for Jerome Napoleon King of Westphalia.
Provenance
Jerome Napoleon, King of Westphalia 1807
History & Context
The crowned “JN” cipher is associated with Jérôme Napoléon Bonaparte (1784–1860), Napoleon I’s youngest brother, who was created King of Westphalia in 1807. Following his marriage to Catherine of Württemberg, Jérôme established his royal court at Kassel, where furnishings, silver, porcelain and other luxury objects helped create the visual identity of the newly founded monarchy. The crowned JN monogram is documented on objects made for Jérôme, including his ceremonial swords and personal possessions, while particularly close comparisons exist in Medici-form crystal glasses engraved with Jérôme’s cipher now preserved in the Musée Napoléon Ier at the Château de Fontainebleau. Such personalised glassware formed part of the sophisticated culture of the Napoleonic table, in which royal ciphers and crowns transformed functional objects into expressions of rank and dynastic authority. The Kingdom of Westphalia survived for only six years, from 1807 until 1813, making objects associated with Jérôme’s brief royal court particularly evocative survivals of Napoleon’s attempt to establish a new Bonaparte dynasty across Europe.
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