Harnais français remix

In late 18th-century France, two architecture students became firm friends. One was Charles Percier, the other Pierre François Fontaine. Both were superb draughtsmen, much appreciated by the Bonaparte clan, who went on to brilliant public careers as representatives par excellence of the official Empire style. On the day of his coronation in 1804, the future Emperor Napoleon I rode to the ceremony in a carriage for which Fontaine and Percier were commissioned to produce the designs. But their magnificent vehicle, led by a team of eight horses, was rejected. The French Revolution had taken place a mere fifteen years before, many luxurious carriages from the Ancien Régime had been destroyed, and Napoleon feared that the splendid coach would rekindle the ire of his people. The original design, now in the Hermès collection, provided the model for this scarf, featuring just one pair of the Imperial horses.