Smallsword Presented by the City of Paris to Commandant Ildefonse Favé (1812–1894)

This smallsword was presented by the City of Paris to Commandant Ildefonse Favé to commemorate his official announcement to the city of the birth of Napoléon, Prince Imperial (1856-1879), son of Emperor Napoleon III, on March 16, 1856, as indicated by the inscription on its blade. The birth of the Bonaparte heir was celebrated as an event of national importance throughout France. Sometime after the announcement, this sword was commissioned from Lepage-Moutier, a renowned firm of Parisian gunmakers. To create the hilt, Lepage employed Paul Bled (1807-1881), one of the most famous modelers and steel chiselers of the period. Perhaps to evoke the glory of previous reigns, Bled made the hilt as an exacting replica of an eighteenth-century smallsword, copying an example then in the private collection of Alfred-Emilien O'Hara, comte de Nieuwerkerke (1811-1892), Minister of Fine Arts to Napoleon III and Director of the Louvre. The Nieuwerkerke sword was acquired later by Sir Richard Wallace and is now part of the Wallace Collection in London.

Credit: Gift of Peter Finer, in honor of Stuart Pyhrr, 2014