316 Sword to the small uniform (Glaive de Petit Apparat), for a member of the Directory, from the estate of Paul Barras (ex Collection Bernhard Franck).

 Handle of chiselled, gilt bronze. Blade with the inscription: "Pour la Nation - Vaincre ou Mourir" (For the Nation - Victory or Death). Scabbard of gilt bronze with a garnet red velvet base.

This sword comes from the estate of Grand de Deydem, whose ancestor was the aide-de-camp of Paul Barras (sold after his death, 28 May 1921, Hôtel Drouot, no. 103 of the catalogue). 

Paul-François-Jean-Nicolas, Vicomte de Barras (* 30 June 1755 in Fox-Amphoux; † 29 January 1829 in Chaillot) was a French politician and a member of the Directory, of which he was the only member continuously from 1795 until its dissolution in 1799. 

It was by chance that he witnessed the storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789. Until then, the Vice-Count de Barras had no firm political ideas. He met Mirabeau at Sophie Arnould's house. Perhaps it was this meeting that led him to join Freemasonry and then the Jacobin Club and to enter politics as a republican. He failed as a candidate for the legislature for the Var department. However, he subsequently became a member of the National High Court in Orléans. After this was dissolved, he returned to Paris and was appointed commissioner of the Italian army. He then succeeded in being elected to the National Convention of 1792 and voted for the execution of Louis XVI. He took a leading part in the overthrow of Robespierre from the 9th Thermidor in 1794. He later became president of the National Convention. In 1795, Barras was one of the first five directors of state. After the coup d'état of 18 Fructidor V (4 September 1797), the triumvirate of Barras, Louis-Marie de La Révellière-Lépeaux and Jean François Reubell took power in the Directory. Joséphine de Beauharnais, later Napoleon Bonaparte's wife, was his mistress. Barras promoted the young general who had put down a royalist uprising against the Directory for him in Paris, putting him in charge of the Italian army and later supporting the Egyptian Expedition. Napoleon's coup d'état of 18 Brumaire VIII (1799), however, forced Barras to resign. Barras had favoured both Napoleon's and Joseph Fouché's rise, which did not prevent the two from deposing him and sending him into exile. Barras only returned after Napoléon's abdication, although he was also stigmatised as a regicide (Régicide).

Provenance:

Grand de Deydem estate auction 28 May 1921, Hôtel Drouot, no. 103 of the catalogue.

Bernard Franck Collection, auction at Hotel Drouot Paris, 3 and 4 April 1935 "Collections Bernard Franck (Quatrième Vente) Èpoque Révolution, lot 191.

The sword is mentioned in the title page of the auction as one of the "highlights" and is illustrated and described on pp. 23 - 25.

The original text of the catalogue reads: 

"Glaive de Petit Apparat, de Membre du Directoire, ayant appartenu à Barras. Poignée en bronze ciselé, doré. Lame portant l'inscription: "Pour la Nation - Vaincre ou Mourir". Fourreau en bronze doré, à fond de velours grenat.  Provient de la Succession Grand de Deydem, dont l'ancêtre était l' Aide de Camp de Barras. (Vente après décès, 28. mai 1921, Hôtel Drouot, no. 103 du catalogue)."  

Important edged weapon of one of the most famous leaders of the French Revolution and a historical collector's item of museum value.

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