Set of Tablespoons from a Service Made for Pauline Bonaparte and Prince Camillo Borghese
Record status
Individual type · partial
Period
1789–1820
This set of tablespoons is fashioned from gilded silver, presenting an elongated, pointed oval bowl paired with a decorative stem that widens toward a rounded terminal. The metalwork features detailed ornamental relief and engraved motifs along the handles and near the junction with the bowl.
Produced between 1789 and 1820, each tablespoon measures 21.6 cm (8 1/2 in.) in length. The set was created in Paris, France, and is associated with makers Martin-Guillaume Biennais, Pierre-Benoît Lorillon, and Pietro Paola Spagna.
Evidence at a glance
- Linked sources
- 1
- Photograph views
- 1
- Catalogue references
- 0
Counts describe this entry’s documentation, not authenticity, rarity or completeness. Photographs may show one specimen; check each caption and licence.
Historical context
These tablespoons belong to a vast service produced for Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte’s sister Pauline on the occasion of her marriage to the Roman nobleman Camillo Borghese, Sixth Prince of Sulmona. Following the French Revolution, designers and architects drew upon the visual language of ancient Greece and Rome to reflect the imperial order. Napoleon commissioned several silver dinner services as diplomatic and familial gifts sent abroad to support and promote Paris’s luxury trades.
Physical characteristics
- Material
- Gilded silver
- Dimensions
- H.: 21.6 cm (8 1/2 in.)
Technical characteristics
- Maker recorded
- Martin-Guillaume Biennais, French, 1764-1843, Pierre-Benoît Lorillon, French, 1757-1816, Paris, France, Pietro Paola Spagna, Italian, 1793-1861
- Place recorded
- Paris
Identification
- Source note
- Transcribed from the Art Institute of Chicago collection record for this single object; how far it represents a wider collectible type has not been independently verified.
- Museum object name
- Set of Tablespoons (14), from a Service Made for Pauline Bonaparte and Prince Camillo Borghese
- Museum object number
- 1966.116k-x
Catalogue references
No catalogue numbers recorded. Numbers are only published once transcribed from a verified edition of a standard catalogue — they are never inferred.