Overall height: 32cm (12.5in)
Provenance: Pierre-Maxime Glain Collection - Sale Angers 1981
Gilt bronze eagle rising with wings addorsed and elevated, its head to dexter and claw clutching lightning bolts, raised on an integral pediment fitted with socket and inscribed in relief ‘Garde Imperiale’ to the front and ‘Guides’ to the back, the whole mounted upon a veined marble base. Height of eagle: 32cm (12.5in).
The Garde Impériale Cavalerie Regiment des Guides of Napoleon III embodied the heritage and traditions of the Les Chasseurs à Cheval de la Garde Impériale which had its origins in the Guides raised by General Bonaparte during his Italian Campaign of 1796. The Chasseurs usually provided personal escort to Napoleon, and he often wore the uniform of the regiment in recognition of this service. The regiment was not only known for its extravagant uniform, but also its combat history.
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The re-creation of the Imperial Guard was in large part the work of arch Bonapartist Lieutenant-Colonel Fleury, squire of Emperor Napoleon III. During the dying days of the Second Republic of 1848-52, that followed the overthrow of the monarchy and heralded the coup d'état of 5 December 1851 staged by Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte (afterwards Napoleon III), a decree of October 23, 1852 pronounced the constitution of a regiment of guides of the Guard, inspired by the regiment of guides of the First Consul of 1800. The present eagle is traditionally regarded as having been made for the Hall of Honour of the Guides Regiment at the request of Colonel Fleury.
Colonel Emile Félix Count Fleury (1815-1884) dissipated his entire family fortune as a young man and went into exile in London where he met Persigny and Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte. He joined Spahis' corps in Algeria in 1837, where he distinguished himself and was quickly appointed lieutenant (1840), then captain (1844). Returning to France in July 1848 after his appointment as squadron leader, he enthusiastically joined the ranks of the Bonapartist party and the cause of Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte. In 1851, Fleury took part in the Kabylie expedition. He was among those close to the future emperor in the preparations and execution of the coup d'état of December 2, 1851 (he was injured in the head in the events that followed). Promoted to colonel upon the re-establishment of the Empire, he became an aide-de-camp to Napoleon III, first equerry, brigadier general in 1859, then grand equerry of the Crown in 1862 then division general in 1863, he was appointed to the Senate by imperial decree in 1865. He was responsible for diplomatic missions, notably at the Court of the King of Italy Victor-Emmanuel II. In 1869 he was appointed ambassador to Saint Petersburg. At the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 and the fall of the Empire, he went into exile in Switzerland with his family. He is buried in the Père-Lachaise cemetery.
