Humidor for Habanos

Humidor for Habanos "Return a Egipte", 19th century.
Bronze.
Measurements: 26 x 16 x 10 cm.

This humidifier for Habanos cigars is made entirely of bronze, simulating the shape of a canopic vase, a vessel used in Ancient Egypt where the viscera of the deceased, carefully removed from the body, mummified and bandaged, were introduced.

To understand the making of this humidifier, one must understand the historical context in which it is set: Napoleon's campaign in Egypt in 1798 was the starting point of the Egyptomania that would dominate French art at the beginning of the 19th century. The future emperor and his troops were able to see at first hand the great temples, monumental sculptures and pyramids, but the main architects of the dissemination of these images were the artists who accompanied the troops, and who devoted themselves to making sketches and watercolors of the various landscapes. When these works arrived in France, they were engraved and used as the basis for large oil paintings. Thanks to these images, a new iconographic repertoire arrived in Europe, based on ancient Egyptian art but recreated with freedom and fantasy.