House of Bonaparte - a 19th century fragmentary carving, ins...

Hammer

£75

House of Bonaparte - a 19th century fragmentary carving, inscribed in ink manuscript: Fragment of Fret-work cut by the hand of the late Prince Imperial 1878, monogrammed DH. to verso, 7cm wide

The vendor's ancestor, an estate carpenter in South Derbyshire, by family repute, was asked to instruct Napoléon, the Prince Imperial (1856-1879), in the rudiments of woodworking while the latter stayed at Elvaston Castle, as a guest of the Earl and Countess of Harrington, the year before his ill-fated participation in the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879.

Provenance: By direct descent through the Hunt family, Derbyshire.

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Good for a fragment of fretwork.