Lot n° 166
Estimation :
18000 - 20000
EUR
Result with fees
Result
: 23 400EUR
General Ordener's officer's saber of the type used by chasse - Lot 166
General Ordener's officer's saber of the type used by chasseurs à cheval or hussards, German-style brass hilt engraved with filets, straight crossbows and auricles, cap surmounted by a finial, leather-covered spindle, filigree; very fine and rare damascus blade, round back and lateral throat, ending in a counter-edge, carp tongue tip, back signed: "Manufacture de Klingenthal Coulaux frères", engraved in etching on a gold background on the first third with trophies of arms and foliage, the second third with inscriptions in letters forged in the damascus, on one side: "GÉNÉRAL" and on the other: "ORDENER"; brass scabbard with traces of gilding, engraved with fillets, two bracelets of bélières, iron sting; length 103.5 cm. (Small accident to the branch hook; top cap finial attached; this blade was probably not born with this mount, too simple for a general).
Consulate period. Good condition.
Michel ORDENER, born September 2, 1755 in L'Hôpital, in the Duchy of Lorraine, and died August 30, 1811 in Compiègne, was a French general of the Revolution and Empire, who had a career under the Ancien Régime and the Revolution. Born in the Duchy of Lorraine, his everyday language was Plat, which his French contemporaries mistook for bad German.
He joined the dragoons of the Condé legion on January 1, 1773; became a brigadier on November 7, 1776; transferred with his rank to the BOUFFLERS dragoons on December 9, then with the same squadron to the 4th chasseurs à cheval, which became the 10th regiment of chasseurs à cheval; he obtained all his promotions in this corps; maréchal des logis on September 1, 1785; adjutant on May 23, 1787; second lieutenant, January 25, 1792; lieutenant the following May 23; captain, May 1, 1793; squadron leader, Thermidor 9, Year II and brigade leader, Fructidor 30, Year IV; he served in the Rhine and Moselle armies during the campaigns of 1792 and 1793; he gave many proofs of his brilliant valor in the wars from Year II to Year VIII, in the armies of the Rhine, the Alps, Italy, England and the Danube. Colonel of the mounted grenadiers. Appointed brigade commander of the grenadiers à cheval de la garde des Consuls, on 29 Messidor, An VIII. He was often cited with praise by the various generals commanding the divisions to which his regiment belonged. During this campaign, the intrepid ORDENER took some 6,000 prisoners, 26 cannonballs, most of their caisson, 7 flags or standards, around 200 wagons loaded with equipment, at least 2,400 horses; he had 7 horses killed under him, received 8 saber blows, including 5 to the head at the Valevau affair, on Thermidor 27, An VII, and three shots which, although quite serious, did not put him out of action. The only inconvenience resulting from his wounds was periodic deafness, caused by a cannonball that removed his right face ("faces" are braids of hair on either side of the face, in front of the ears, worn by Republican and Empire soldiers). Promoted to brigadier general on fructidor 11, year XI (August 29, 1803); member of the Legion of Honor on frimaire 19, year XII; on ventôse 20, he received orders from the Minister of War to proceed to the town of Ettenheim to arrest the Duc d'Enghien. He arrived on the 25th and, with General François Nicolat FRIRION, had the Prince's house surrounded by a detachment of gendarmerie and part of the 22nd dragoons.
The Duke was taken prisoner and taken to the mill near La Tuilerie. After arresting the Duc d'Enghien, he took no part, either directly or indirectly, in the Prince's trial and execution.
Appointed Commander of the Legion of Honor on Prairial 25, Year XII, he took part in the Year XIII campaign on the ocean coast with the cavalry of the Guard, and in Vendémiaire joined the Grand Army. Promoted to division general on December 25, 1805, he continued to command the grenadiers à cheval de la garde. Called to the Conservative Senate on May 20, 1806, and appointed Commander of the Order of the Iron Crown, he retired on October 25 and became First Squire to Empress Josephine.
Empress Josephine. Napoleon appointed him Count of the Empire on December 20, 1808, and Governor of the Imperial Palace of Compiègne on March 1, 1810. He died in the exercise of his functions on August 30, 1811. He is buried in the Pantheon in Paris.
Only a handful of damascus-bladed sabers with 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.
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