1 - Napoleon Death Mask Casket Box | Fantastical Boxes of History

HB1 - Napoléon Bonaparte Death Mask Casket Box

August 15, 1769 - May 5, 1821 (age 51)

Napoléon Bonaparte was born August 15, 1769 in Ajaccio, Corsica, an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 18 regions of France. He died on May 5, 1821 on St. Helena Island, part of the British Overseas Territory located in the South Atlantic Ocean. The British government exiled Napoleon, after the Battle of Waterloo, to St. Helena in October 1815 until his death.

Napoleon was made French General, first consul and held that position from 1799 to 1804. He was pronounced Emperor of the French in1804 and held the position until 1814 / 15. Napoleon was one of the most celebrated personages in the history of the

West. He revolutionized military organization and training; sponsored the Napoleonic Code, the prototype of later civil-law codes; reorganized education; and established the long-lived Concordat with the papacy. Napoleon’s many reforms left a lasting mark on the institutions of France, western Europe and the world. But his driving passion was the military expansion of French dominion, and, though at his fall he left France a little larger than it had been at the outbreak of the Revolution in 1789, he was almost unanimously revered during his lifetime and until the end of the Second Empire under his nephew Napoleon III as one of history’s greatest heroes.

Napoleon's

Egypt Campaign

The Death Mask

This life size plaster Napoleon Bonaparte death mask is an exact older copy of Napoleon's original death mask made around 6 May, 1821, although it is not clear which of his doctors created it.

Napoleon's Deathbed

Longwood House, Island of St Helena

Napoleon's Tomb

Les Invalides in Paris, France

Napoleon's First Resting Place

When Napoleon died in exile in 1821, his wish was to be laid to rest on the banks of the Seine River in Paris, France. Napoleon's wish would not come to fruition, at least not right away. The Brittish Governor of the Island of Helena, Hudson Lowe, insisted that his body be buried on the island in the Valley of the Willows. It was not until 1840, under the order of King Louis-Philippe of France, to have his remains transferred to Les Invalides in Paris.

In 1858, France purchased the land of Napolean's burial plot along with Longwood House, where Nepoleon lived in exile and where he died. Every year on the anniversary on Napoleon’s death, a “Moment de Memoire” is held at the site.

The Death Mask Casket Box and Contents

Napoleon I on His Imperial Throne

By Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres in 1806

Original Watercolor Painting C. 1798

(signed on the bottom right)

Strand of

Napoleon Bonaparte's Hair

French Miniature Portrait

of Napoleon in Battle

Painting by Alexandre Lenoir

(27 Dec. 1761 - 11 Jun. 1839)

The painting above was executed by Alexandre Lenoir, a French archaeologist who devoted himself to saving France's historical monuments, sculptures and tombs from the ravages of the French Revolution. He opened, and was administrator for 30 years of, the Musee des Monuments Francais. The museum displayed actual monuments of French Medieval and Renaissance art, removed from churches and châteaux after the Revolution.

Napoleon brought a contingent of 167 scholars on his 1798/99 Egyptian Campaign, including Vivant Denon, the scientist Gaspard Monge, and archaeologist Alexandre Lenoir. This scientific expedition undertook excavations and scientific studies on Egypt's pyramids, temples, and Pharaonic statues, like the tomb of Amenhotep III

Single Strand of hair from the Locks

collected by Dr. Barry O'Meara

(collected ca. 1817)

"Over 15 strands of light brown hair belonging to French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), showcased in a lovely display headlined "Napoleon Buonaparte's Hair, one of the most authenticated locks extant." The hair was collected by Dr. Barry O'Meara (1786-1836), Bonaparte's physician while in exile on St. Helena, who in turn gave it to Reverend Richard Boys (1785-1867), a Protestant chaplain on the island."