Souvenir Urn
c. 1872
Paris
Over 20 years after witnessing the February Revolution in Paris in 1848, Charles Ridgely (1830-1872) with his wife Margaretta Howard Ridgely (1824-1904) and their children were in France at the time of the next big upheaval, the 1870 Franco-Prussian War and the infamous siege and rioting in Paris. Evidently the church of Petit St. Thomas subsequently used fragments of precious bread from this horrific time as a fundraising tool, packaging it in little bronze urns. The Ridgely family had returned to Paris by the winter of 1872 and likely purchased this unusual souvenir at that time.
Bronze, stone, glass. H 5.7, L 9.4, W 9.4 cm
Hampton National Historic Site, HAMP 40078