The Review
Classic arts
Thursday, May 22, 2025

On May 22nd, we will have the honor of dispersing the fine collection of antique weapons belonging to Roger de Montégudet (1880-1925).
This collection comprises some one hundred sabers, including such historically important pieces as the Duc de Berry's saber, General Mouton-Duvernet's saber, and General Monnier's extremely rare honor pistols.
We feel it is important to set the context of the collection we have the honour of dispersing in this catalog.


Roger de Montégudet

Our collector is Roger de Montégudet (1880 - 1925), who was raised by his stepfather Georges Barrilleau (1853 - 1925), Dean of the Poitiers Faculty of Law and an eminent bibliophile who instilled in him a taste for the fine arts and history. His career as an officer led him to become Marshal Franchet d'Esperey's ordinance before a disease contracted during the Eastern campaign prevented him from serving. He therefore devoted his retirement to building up his collection from his château de la Noue (Esternay, Marne), and became a member of the Société Historique de l'Art Français.

The way in which Roger de Montégudet built up his collection is singular and deserves to be evoked for a moment: in the age of paper books and laborious research, he patiently drew up lists of recipients of honorary arms.

His notebooks and correspondence betray a great sense of research and historical documentation.
From his own lists, Montégudet wrote numerous letters to all the parish priests from whose parishes the recipients of the coveted arms of honor came, in order to find the heirs to the objects he wanted to enrich his collection.
Exchanges are a matter of genealogy, and Montégudet personally solicits the parish priests in order to make contact with the heirs and eventually arrange the acquisitions!

More often than not, letters are politely returned to sender, or go unanswered... His correspondence is lot no. 123 in our sale. But sometimes the cork gets wagging on the history fisherman's line: “I made a real investigation in my parish to find the descendants,” writes Abbé Merlot, parish priest of Montmédy (Meuse) to Montégudet. The abbé goes on to point out that the sabre d'honneur so sought-after, which “was still used by the gard-champêtre on his rounds a few years ago”, has well and truly disappeared...
It's easy to imagine our collector's disappointment on reading this letter. In many cases, the families are no longer there, and the weapons have been lost...

There are also cases where the heirs have been found, but categorically refuse to relinquish their inheritance.
In 1923, for example, a certain Monsieur Dangibeaud told the archpriest of Saintes, the intermediary in the correspondence: "If I replied to this Montégudet, I would tell him that the saber will remain in Saintes! In the same year, Madame Béziers replied to our collector about the Nougaret saber of honor he was coveting: “We're keeping it preciously (...) we're not thinking of getting rid of it”. Fortunately, erudition and perseverance sometimes pay off!

Thus, for a thousand francs, Bullier's historical memorabilia (lot no. 90 in our sale) was acquired: his saber of honor, with its original patent and his cross of the Legion of Honor, all from his heiress and through the intermediary of the local parish priest. We particularly appreciate the intervention of the parish priest who, once the deal is done, gives thanks by having a mass said for the salvation of the old soldier of the Empire!


Lot 90 - Sabre de récompense décerné par le Premier Consul à Marc-Antoine Bullier (1772-1833)
Estimation : 15 000 / 20 000 €

"Rare are the collections of this magnitude whose integrity has been miraculously preserved for a hundred years, over the course of generations.
Montégudet was passionate and hard-working: his collection is the excellent fruit of the combination of these two values. One can exist without the other, of course... But work alone destroys the meaning of things, and passion alone feeds only chimeras..."


Lot 41 - Sabre de récompense décerné par les Consuls de la République à Jean-Joseph Castagnier (1753-1807)
Estimation : 20 000 / 30 000 €


Lot 42 - Sabre d’officier supérieur des Grenadiers à Cheval de la Garde des Consuls
Estimation : 80 000 / 120 000 €


Lot 60 - Sabre du Général Mouton-Duvernet (1770-1816)
Estimation : 20 000 / 30 000 €


Lot 91 - Sabre de récompense décerné par le Premier Consul à Jacques Titard (1765-1826)
Estimation : 15 000 / 20 000 €


Lot 40 - Sabre à l’oriental de Charles-Ferdinand d’Artois, duc de Berry (1778-1820)
Estimation : 10 000 / 15 000 €


Lot 31 - Paire de pistolets d’honneur offerts par le Premier Consuls au Général de division Monnier (1759-1816)
Estimation : 40 000 / 60 000 €

CLASSICAL ARTS
Thursday, May 22, 2025 at 2 pm
Aguttes Neuilly

Public viewing:
Tuesday May 20 and Wednesday May 21: 10am - 1pm and 2pm - 6pm
Thursday May 22: 10am - 12pm
Lots 255 to 318 can only be viewed at our storage facility, by appointment.

All lots can be picked up at the Gennevilliers depot, by appointment only.

For further information or to include a lot in our upcoming sales, please contact
Grégoire de Thoury - Director and expert of the Moblier & objet d'art department
+33 1 41 92 06 46 - thoury@aguttes.com