PARIS.- A unique and historic ensemble, evoking the dazzling career of one of Napoleon’s closest companions – Marshal Berthier, Prince of Neuchâtel & Valangin, Prince of Wagram (1753-1815) – transported Sotheby’s saleroom on the winds of history to the glorious world of the First Empire, totalling €3.2m ($4.4m) to be 79.4% sold by lot and 79.2% by value.

Pierre Mothes, Vice-President of Sotheby’s France, said that Sotheby’s had been ‘delighted to pay tribute to a close companion of Napoleon: a figure guided above all by a sense of honour and loyalty towards the Emperor, and whose modesty prompted him to stay in the background and let other marshals enjoy the limelight.’

Connoisseurs were attracted both by the historical importance of the collection, and the fact that Marshal Berthier’s souvenirs remained intact: a unique ensemble of confidential orders, private correspondence, and manuscripts revealing coded military secrets – accompanied by portraits and refined works of art. The collection’s 339 lots aroused fierce bidding, mainly from Europeans (especially French, Russians and Italians), although American buyers also confirmed their enthusiasm for and knowledge about the First Empire.

Two swords of exceptional quality, made at the Manufacture d'Armes Royale in Naples and each featuring the monogram of Joachim Napoléon Murat, posted the sale’s top prices of €289,500 ($400,329) apiece. These veritable objets d’art came from a set of six great ceremonial swords (lots 320 & 321, est. €200,000-250,000 each).

Connoisseurs competed to acquire Marshal Berthier’s splendid court costumes, all in excellent condition, led by a richly embroidered silk velvet dress-coat (illustrated on the catalogue cover) acquired by a private Napoleonic museum for €87,900 ($121,551), (lot 314, est. €30,000-50,000). Marshal Berthier’s ceremonial cummerband, woven entirely from silver thread, climbed to €75,900 ($104,957), (lot 316, est. €40,000-50,000).

The orders of chivalry that spangled Berthier’s exceptional career were awarded to sovereigns and leading dignitaries only sparingly. They have suffered from a selective market in recent years but remain extremely rare, and the remarkable prices obtained here reflect a powerful upsurge in interest. The collection contained most of the foreign orders bestowed upon Marshal Berthier, led by two Russian awards: the prestigious Order of St Andrew he received from Tsar Alexander I in Tilsitt in 1807, at €75,900 ($104,957) (lot 265, est. €40,000-50,000); and the Order of St Anna, which soared to €79,500 ($109,935), (lot 268, est. €15,000-20,000).

The exceptional array of titles, documents and handwritten correspondence kept by Marshal Berthier and his family until today constitute a veritable historic treasure, and the saleroom’s response to lot 229 – 112 autograph documents charting Berthier’s military career – rewarded Sotheby’s decision to maintain the ensemble in its entirety. It sold for €145,500 ($201,202) to a private collector, who promptly followed up by acquiring a series of documents pertaining to Napoleon’s Capitulation in 1814 for €25,000 ($ 34,571) (lot 231, est. €12,000-18,000).

The sale’s most moving items were perhaps the three unpublished and previously unknown letters addressed to Marshal Berthier by Empress Josephine, bearing witness to Berthier’s close ties to Napoleon and the role he played alongside him. One letter from Josephine, begging Berthier to take good care of Napoleon, fetched €23,750 ($32,842), (lot 245, est. €8,000-12,000); while another, letter relating how the wife of Marshal Lannes had rushed to her husband's bedside after he had been mortally wounded at Essling, rose to €27,500 ($ 38,028), (lot 247, est. €8,000-12,000).

Highest price among Berthier’s book collection was an imposing €133,500 ($184,608) for Thomas & William Daniell’s masterpiece about India, Oriental Scenery, sumptuously illustrated in colour,and in a handsome (albeit worn) binding by Teissier (lot 293). Berthier’s library, replete with superbly preserved, luxuriously bound volumes featuring his coat-of-arms, included three large, folio-sized author’s copies of Berthier’s own works about the 1800 Battle of Marengo; these took €17,500 ($24,200, lot 296), €20,000 ($27,657, lot 297) and €9,375 ($12,964, lot 298).

Family pictures included a work of rare quality by the celebrated battle-painter Louis-François Lejeune: a strikingly impressive equestrian portrait of General Berthier and his Two Brothers during the Italian Campaign , which sold ahead of expectations for €241,500 ($333,953), (lot 235, est. €100,000-150,000). A pair of portraits of Marshal Berthier and his wife Maria Elisabeth of Baviara by Joseph Boze obtained €30,000 ($41,485), (lot 244, est. €15,000-25,000).