Lot n° 163
Estimation :
30000 - 40000
EUR
Result with fees
Result
: 26 000EUR
Very fine and rare award saber given to Conseiller d'Etat Sh - Lot 163
Very fine and rare award saber given to Conseiller d'Etat Shée, Prefect of Bas-Rhin (1802/1810):
Senior officer's saber modeled after one of those given as a national award by Boutet, this one probably made by the Manufacture de Klingenthal, Coulaux frères.
Brass hilt, finely chased and gilded, with one straight limb, decorated in the middle with a finial; straight crosspiece engraved with vertical striations; quillon in the form of a leafy knob; shuttle-shaped auricles chased with an antique cuirass and helmet held in place by a club; long-tailed cap in the form of a leafy scroll extending into a row of pearls; ebony spindle with oblique grooves.
Rush damascus blade, embellished with a full-length fluting ending in a counter-edge, finely engraved and gilded in thirds with foliage, a deity of war and justice, trophies of arms and an imperial eagle; after these decorations, it is inlaid with inscriptions with damascus-forged letters, in the damascus itself, on one face: "AU CONSEILLER D'ETAT SHEE" and, on the other: "PREFET DU BAS-RHIN"; it is signed, on the back: "Manufacture de Klingenthal Coulaux frères".
Chagrin-covered wooden scabbard with three brass fittings, finely chased and gilded, each adorned with a spider's web at the ends; chased cap with foliage, then a trophy with a trunk crossed with a quiver full of arrows tied with a ribbon on oak leaves; the middle one is adorned with an antique helmet, an axe and a scimitar on a background of laurels; chiseled buckler with a large trophy of arms with an antique helmet, a quiver of arrows, a sword, crossed flags and foliage, all suspended by a knotted ribbon; lyre-shaped stinger in blued steel.
This saber is presented with two buckles.
Length 100.5 cm.
Early First Empire period. Very good condition.
PROVENANCE: former Gilbert PUTTERIE private collection.
Very few sabers with damascus blades and forged dedications are known, including that of General RAPP (same collection) and those of BONAPARTE, one of which is in the Malmaison Museum, one in the Moscow Museum and another recently sold; that of Marshal KELLERMANN and that of General ORDENER, presented in this sale.
Henri SHÉE de LIGNIÈRE, born on January 25, 1739 in Landrecies, into a noble Irish family. His father was William
O'SHÉE, cavalry captain (1707/1789). Henri entered the infantry of the King's armies at a very early age, then moved on to the cavalry during the Revolution. Staff officer in the northern campaign, colonel in 1791, he asked to be retired for health reasons, and lived in seclusion until the time of the Directoire. On March 21, 1797, General
HOCHE appointed him president of the intermediate commission for the conquered countries between the Rhine and the Meuse, based in Bonn. This commission had already been disorganized in December 1797. On December 22, 1799, he replaced LAKANAL as general government commissioner for the departments on the left bank of the Rhine.
After the coup d'état of 18 Brumaire, CLARKE, his nephew, obtained for him a seat on the Conseil d'Etat and a post as Prefect, first of Mont-Tonnerre (1801), then of Bas-Rhin, from September 26 1802 (4 Vendémiaire an XI) to February 12 1810. He was in Strasbourg when the Duc d'Enghien was kidnapped. Commandeur de la Légion d'honneur, 1805; appointed member of the Conservative Senate, February 5, 1810; created Comte de l'Empire, April 14, 1810; appointed Pair de France, June 14, 1814, when the Chamber of Peers was constituted. He took no part in the Cents-jours.
Until his death, he sat in the upper chamber. He died in Paris on March 3, 1820.
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