Pair of Circular Platters

Applied Arts of Europe

c. 1809–19

Martin-Guillaume Biennais (French, 1764–1843)
Paris, France

These platters for the dining table are part of a vast service made for Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte’s sister Pauline on the occasion of her marriage to the Roman nobleman Camillo Borghese, Sixth Prince of Sulmona.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Applied Arts of Europe

Artist: Martin-Guillaume Biennais
Title: Pair of Circular Platters
Place: Paris (Object made in:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1809–1819
Medium: Gilt silver
Inscriptions: MARKS: “[lozenge with seated monkey and two pellets above B, maker’s mark] / [cock with 1 in right corner in horizontal octagonal shield, Paris assay mark 1809-19] / [helmeted dexter head of Minerva in round punch, aeris excise mark 1809-19],” on bottom rims of both INSCRIPTIONS: “[Borghese armorials surmounted with Napoleonic Crown],” engraved on raised edge
Dimensions: Diam.: 36.8 cm (14 1/2 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Mrs. Charles V. Hickox
Reference Number: 1966.109a-b
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/25139/manifest.json

Catalogue des objets d’art et d’ameublement qui garnissent le grand appartement au premier étage du palais du Prince Borghese à Rome (Rome: Imprimerie Editrice Romana, 1892), pp. 128-30 (esp. p. 129), lot 847, no. 12.
The Art Institute of Chicago, “Summer Loan Exhibitions,” Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago, vol. 18, no. 6 (September 1924): mentioned p. 79.
“McCormick Art to be sold in January at American-Anderson Galleries,” The Art News, vol. XXXII, no. 10 (9 December 1933): p. 127.
“Historic Silver and Fine Tapestries Feature McCormick Sale,” The Art Digest, vol. VIII, no. 6 (15 December 1933): p. 15.
“McCormick Art Collection Now on Exhibition,” The Art News, vo. XXXII, no. 12 (23 December 1933): p. 16.
Anderson Galleries, The Collection of Mrs. Rockefeller McCormick (New York: American Art Association, 1934): p. 110, lot 722.
“Exhibitions and Sales,” Antiques, vol. XXV, no. 1 (January 1934): pp. 25-26.
“McCormick Auction,” The Art News, vol. XXXII, no. 15 (13 January 1934): pp. 3, 14.
“Exhibitions and Sales,” Antiques, vol. XXV, no. 2 (February 1934): pp. 69-71.
“New York Sales,” The Connoisseur, vol. 93, no. 390 (February 1934): pp. 135-136.
“American Art Sales,” Apollo, vol. XIX, no. 3 (March 1934): p. 174.
John Maxon, “Report of the Associate Director,” The Art Institute of Chicago Annual Report 1965-1966, p. 34, p. 11 (ill.).
Allen Wardwell, “Continental Decorative Arts at the Art Institute of Chicago,” Antiques, vol. XCII, no. 4 (October 1967): p. 512-513 (ill.).
Eleanor Page, “A Princely Table Service,” Chicago Tribune (20 April 1970): p. B14.
John W. Keefe, et al., Selected Works of 18th Century French Art in the Collections of the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1976), pp. 156, 162-171, cat. 260, 267 (Ill.).
Celia Hilliard, “’Higher Things’: Remembering the Early Antiquarians,” Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies, vol. 28, no. 2 Gift Beyond Measure: The Antiquarian Society and European Decorative Arts, (2002): mentioned p. 16.

Rome, Palais Borghese, Apartment du Prince Borghese, March 24 – March 26, 1892.
Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, Summer Loan Exhibition, July 1 – October 1, 1924.
Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, The Paulina Borghese Silver, October 1924 – November, 1932.
New York, Anderson Galleries, The Collection of Mrs. Rockefeller McCormick, December 28, 1933 – January 6, 1934.
Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, Selected Works of 18th Century French Art in the Collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, January 24 – March 28, 1976.

Probably commissioned by Napoleon Bonaparte I, between 1809 and 1819 as a gift to Pauline Bonaparte and Prince Camillo Borghese (per Paris Assay marks for 1809-1819, engraved and embossed Napoleonic Crowns surmounting the Borghese Crests, and inscriptions “orfevre de Lrs. Mtes. Imperialism et Royales a Paris” on pieces of the service); private collection of Pauline Bonaparte and Prince Camillo Borghese; thence by descent, Borghese Palace, Rome; sold their sale Rome, Apartment du Prince Borghese, 1892 (Lot 847, copy of catalog in curatorial file, see publication history for exact lot); possibly with Antonio Licata, Naples, 1892. With Ercole Canessa, dealer, Naples, Paris, or New York, by 1892; sold to Edith Rockefeller McCormick, Chicago, before 1924; sold her sale, New York, Anderson Galleries, The Collection of Mrs. Rockefeller McCormick, 1934 (lots 628-774, copy of catalog in curatorial file, see publication history for exact lot); collection of Charles V. and Catherine Barker Spaulding Hickox, New York, NY, until 1966; given to the Art Institute of Chicago.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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