Crib of the Imperial Prince Louis-Napoléon (1856-1879)

Victor Baltard (1805 - 1874)

    • 1856
      Rosewood, gilded bronze, vermeil, silver, enamels, modern trim
      Gift of Empress Eugenie, wife of Napoleon III, in 1902
      MB249

On March 13, 1856, the Emperor and Empress requested the exhibition of a magnificent cradle, to be shown to the public in the Throne Room at city hall. Parisians thronged to get a glimpse of it. Two days later, the cradle was transported to the Tuileries, and the Imperial Prince was born in the morning on March 16.

Three months previously, Haussmann had obtained an authorization from the Municipal Council to have the cradle made by the most talented artists of the time in the most precious of materials. He entrusted its design to architect Victor Baltard. Sculptors, painters, enamel workers, engravers, cabinet makers, ornamental sculptors and lace makers participated in creating the cradle. People of the time were unanimous in praising the quality of the execution of this work of art, one of the most representative of the eclectic taste of the Second Empire.

Baltard used a number of symbols, giving the body of the cradle the shape of a ship that recalled the Paris coat of arms, decorating the prow with an imperial eagle and topping the other end with a feminine figure representing the City of Paris.