One of these was a 3ft 8in x 20in (1.1m x 51cm) domed travelling trunk which is inscribed in brass nails Chambre de la Reine no 10 (Queen’s bedroom no 10).
Made with a wood carcass trimmed with leather and reinforced with iron bands, this is the same model as two others in the collections of the Palace of Versailles.
It has a provenance to Claude Louis Rochard, valet to Louis Bonaparte while king of Holland from 1806-10. His wife, Marthe Marguerite Durand, was nurse to Napoleon Charles (1802-07), the oldest son of the king and his queen consort Hortense de Beauharnais.
According to family tradition, Rochard obtained the trunk from Queen Hortense and it has since passed down through his family. It sold for €35,000 (£31,820), around four times the original estimate at the auction held on May 24.
A damask towel used at Marie Antoinette's coronation – €11,600 (£10,545) at Osenat.
Another personal piece was a damask towel measuring 3ft 5in x 2ft 5in (1m x 75cm) and decorated with wreaths of fleur de lys and a central bouquet of roses. It was offered with a note translating as: ‘This was a towel used by Marie Antoinette during the Coronation, and which was kept by Mgneur de Coussy who used it during his emigration and from whom we got it.’
Jean-Charles de Coucy (1746-1824) was chaplain to Queen Marie-Antoinette in 1776 and later canon of Rheims. He was appointed Bishop of La Rochelle in 1789 but his monarchist sympathies forced him into exile in 1791.
At the Versailles sale it also quadrupled the €2000-3000 estimate, selling for €11,600 (£10,545).
£1 = €1.10
