**Gold finger ring with the portrait of Napoleon, around 1800.** Swiss National Museum / Alice and Louis Koch Collection

Finger rings from the time of the Napoleonic Wars

Jewellery can reach beyond its purely decorative function to consciously document historical events. Alice and Louis Koch's extensive collection of rings includes several specimens that reflect the events of Napoleon's tumultuous time.

Beatriz Chadour-Sampson

Based in England Beatriz Chadour-Sampson is an international jewellery historian. Her publications range from Antiquity to the present day, such as 2000 Finger Rings from the Alice and Louis Koch Collection, Switzerland (1994) of which she continues to be a consultant for the Swiss National Museum.

Rings worn as a symbol of office, to display political allegiance or signify affiliation to a campaign first appeared in Europe in the second half of the 18th century. Patriotic jewellery worn as a sign of protest or defiance became popular after the French Revolution of 1789-1799. Alice and Louis Koch shared a special interest in the arts of the Napoleonic period and their extensive collection of rings includes examples celebrating events from this tumultuous period.

One of the collection’s earliest pieces is a colourful ruby-studded gold and silver ring, made after 1808, celebrating Napoleon Bonaparte’s greatest military victory, the Battle of Austerlitz in 1805. Following the end of the French Revolution in November 1799, General Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) had engineered a rapid rise to power. In 1799 he quickly staged a coup d’etat, overthrew the republican rule of the Directory and appointed himself First Consul. In 1804 he was proclaimed Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, a title which lasted until his exile in 1814. His rule transformed the political and economic status of France through major reforms which formed the basis for the modern-day state but he is more widely remembered for his insatiable military ambitions. These led to a campaign by the French Empire and its allies against a varying coalition of states including Austria, Prussia, Russia, Sweden and Britain. The Battle of Austerlitz took place in Moravia, part of the Austrian Empire, where Napoleon decisively defeated the Austrian and Russian armies. The ring bears a painted miniature of the meeting between Napoleon and Francis II of Austria on the 4th December 1805 when they agreed to end hostilities and precipitated the retreat of Russia. The scene is after a large-scale painting of c. 1806-1815 by the Romantic painter Antoine-Jean Gros (1771-1835) in the Musée du Versailles.

**Meeting between Napoleon and the Austrian Emperor on 4 December 1805. Painting by Antoine-Jean Gros, c. 1810.** © RMN-Grand Palais (Château de Versailles) / Jean Popovitch

**Finger ring with a watercolour surrounded by rubies, 1805.** Swiss National Museum / Alice and Louis Koch Collection

A gold and iron ring commemorating the achievements of one of Napoleon’s adversaries, Queen Louise of Prussia (1776-1810), records history from another perspective, that of resistance. To her subjects, she embodied courage in the face of the enemy after Napoleon defeated the Prussian army led by her husband King Friedrich-Wilhelm III on the 14th October 1806 at the twin battles of Jena and Auerstädt. Exiled after the defeat, Louise and Friedrich-Wilhelm were received by Napoleon in July 1807 at Tilsit in East Prussia to sign a peace treaty between France and Prussia. Attended by many dignitaries including Tsar Alexander I of Russia, the meeting is documented in various paintings of 1808 by Jean-Charles Tardieu, and of 1837 by Nicolas Louis François Gosse, in the Musée du Versailles. The Queen had personally pleaded with the Emperor which, although fruitless, earned her the admiration and love of her subjects. During the war Napoleon had attempted to destroy Louise’s reputation but after their meeting he expressed a respect for her in letters to Empress Josephine. After her death in 1810 at the early age of 34, Napoleon is said to have remarked that King Friedrich-Wilhelm III ‘has lost his best minister’. The ring bears an iron profile effigy of the Queen based on a model by the Austrian sculptor Leonhard Posch (1750-1831) and was worn as sign of remembrance.

**Napoleon receives Queen Louise of Prussia in Tilsit on 6 July 1807. Painting by Nicolas-Louis-François Gosse.** Wikimedia

**Commemorative gold and iron ring depicting Queen Louise of Prussia, after 1810.** Swiss National Museum / Alice and Louis Koch Collection

Mourning jewellery made of iron to honour Queen Louise became a symbol of resistance against Napoleon during the German wars of liberation between 1813 and 1815, especially after her sister-in-law Princess Marianne of Prussia appealed to Prussian ladies in 1813 to donate their gold jewellery for the anti-Napoleon campaigns in exchange for iron. Early pieces of this so-called Berlin ironwork were inscribed or stamped with the slogan ‘Gold gab ich für Eisen’ (I gave gold for iron) and also embodied the virtue of modesty valued by Prussian society. Rings from this campaign are rare, yet the Alice and Louis Koch Collection has two examples. One is formed like a wedding band with the inscription in relief ‘ZUM WOHL DES VATERLANDES’ (For the Welfare of the Fatherland). The other is a simple iron band with an inscribed silver plaque reading ‘für Gold erhielt ich Eisen’ (for gold I received iron) and the date ‘1813’.

Iron finger ring with inscription in relief "Zum Wohl des Vaterlandes" (For the Welfare of the Fatherland), 1813. — **Iron finger ring with inscription in relief u003cemu003eu0022Zum Wohl des Vaterlandesu0022u003c/emu003e (u003cemu003eFor the Welfare of the Fatherlandu003c/emu003e), 1813.** Swiss National Museum / Alice and Louis Koch Collection

Iron and silver plate finger ring with the engraving “für Gold erhielt ich Eisen” (for gold I received iron), 1813. — **Iron and silver plate finger ring with the engraving u003cemu003e“für Gold erhielt ich Eisen”u003c/emu003e (u003cemu003efor gold I received ironu003c/emu003e), 1813.** Swiss National Museum / Alice and Louis Koch Collection

Other noteworthy pieces in the collection are two almost identical rings associated with the Battle of Leipzig, the most decisive battle fought during the Napoleonic Wars with a total loss of between 80,000 and 110,000 soldiers over three days from the 16th to 18th October 1813. Both are made of iron with an oval seal insert in gold and inscriptions in relief which differ in date: one dated ‘18 OCT:/1813’ on the seal, the other ‘19. OCT:/1813’ with the word ‘VICTO/RIA’ in niello. The dates and declaration of victory record how the coalition armies of Austria, Prussia, Russia and Sweden finally defeated Napoleon and his dream of a French Empire. On October 18th the battle was won, and on 19th October Napoleon’s Grande Armee finally retreated.

**Gold and iron finger rings commemorating the Battle of Leipzig, 1813.** Swiss National Museum / Alice and Louis Koch Collection

After Napoleon’s defeat at Leipzig, the coalition armies invaded France and advanced to Paris over two days in 1814. A plain signet ring made by a German iron foundry commemorates the Battle of Paris with the simple inscription ‘PARIS/D 31 MARZ/1814’, the day after the city’s capitulation on 30th March, after which Napoleon abdicated his rule and was exiled to the island of Elba off the coast of Italy.

**Iron signet ring commemorating the Battle of Paris on 30.3.1814.** Swiss National Museum / Alice and Louis Koch Collection

A curiosity in the collection is a steel ring with the inscription ‘hergestellt aus Blücher-Reitersäbeln v. 1813’ which was made from the riding sabres of Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, Fürst von Wahlstatt (1742-1819). Aged seventy-one, Blücher returned to active service in 1813 to fight in the wars of liberation against Napoleon, including the Battle of Leipzig and the Battle of Paris. After Napoleon briefly returned from exile in 1815, Blücher joined the Duke of Wellington at the decisive Battle of Waterloo on 18th June 1815 which finally ended Napoleon’s imperial ambitions and twenty-three years of war across Europe.

**Steel finger ring in the shape of a cavalry sabre with the inscription “hergestellt aus Blücher-Reitersäbeln v. 1813” (made from Blücher riding sabres), 1813 - 1819.** Swiss National Museum / Alice and Louis Koch Collection

In France, respect for Napoleon’s victories over Prussia endured well into the 19th century. The last ring in this group posthumously celebrates his achievements in a ring inscribed ‘Austerlitz 1805-1806 Jena’ made after the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871, an example of patriotism through remembrance.

**Silver finger ring commemorating Napoleon's victories. One side depicts an eagle, the other Napoleon's hat on crossed swords, made after 1870.** Swiss National Museum / Alice and Louis Koch Collection

The collection

National Museum Zurich

The exhibition showcases more than 7,000 exhibits from the Museum’s own collection, highlighting Swiss artistry and craftsmanship over a period of about 1,000 years. The exhibition spaces themselves are important witnesses to contemporary history, and tie in with the objects displayed to create a historically dense atmosphere that allows visitors to immerse themselves deeply in the past.

More of: Modern Age Politics War/battle Culture Jewelry

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