beautiful pedestal urn from the wood used for the tomb of emperor napoleon i In turned ebony, with unscrewable lid. Brass fittings, handles and garlands. H. 15 cm high With its paper of origin (worn) dated October 1859: "in 1840, for the return of the Ashes of Napoleon 1st, my Grandfather Lemarchand, Lt decorated at the battle of Ligny then resigning and taking over his workshop from the cabinetmaking workshops of his father, the supplier to the crown, was commissioned to work the coffin in ebony. Some pieces of this wood were used for small family souvenirs, such as this one signed "J. Robiquet octobre 59". B.E. An ebony urn with a pedestal made with the wood from the Emperor Napoleon I's casket Commentary: Louis Édouard Lemarchand was born in Paris on 9 October 1795. He studied architecture. An enthusiastic admirer of the Empire, he enlisted as a soldier and entered Saint-Cyr in 1813. He fought at Ligny in June 1815 and returned to civilian life under the Restoration. He followed in the footsteps of his father, the cabinetmaker Charles Joseph Lemarchand (1759-1826), and set up business at no. 17 rue des Tournelles, where he gave great importance to the family business, becoming cabinetmaker to the Crown and the Duke of Orléans under Louis Philippe, supplying all the palaces. He is best known for making Napoleon's ebony coffin in 1840. He also marketed reductions made from off-cuts of the wood. In 1846, he formed a partnership with André Lemoyne, one of Napoleon III's official cabinet-makers, before retiring from the business in 1852. He died on 15 May 1872.