MILITARY LODGE OF BAUDIN AND BLANQUI

[Freemasonry] [Temple des amis de l'honneur français]: [Certificate for Oléry Brisac]. [Begins:] A la gl. du gr. Arch. de l’Univ/ Au nom e sous les auspices du Gr. Or. France. A tous les Maçons réguliers répandus sur la surface de la terre. Salut. Force. Humanité. Tolerance. Amitié. Paris [signed 23 October 1823].

A decorative intaglio freemasonry certificate printed on parchment, made out to a Mr Oléry Brisac of Metz, aged 27. Besides an attractive design, with elements including columns, mililtary spolia, musical instruments, books, gardening equipment, and masons’ tools, the certificate is notable for its blue and orange silk ribbons, which are laced through horizontal slits made to the printed figure of a column.

Later members of the ‘Temple of the Friends of French Honour’ included Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Baudin (1811-1851), a member of the French Legislative Assembly, who died on the Paris barricades resisting the coup of Napoleon III and is now buried in the Panthéon; and the important revolutionary socialist Louis Auguste Blanqui (1805-1881).

On Baudin (including his membership of the lodge) see: A. Camelin, ‘Quelques aspects méconnus de la vie d’Alphonse Baudin (1811-1851)’, Histoire des sciences médicales 10 (1976), 106-111. For Blanqui’s membership see: Gérard Dimanche, ‘L’heureuse alliance du sabre et du compas – une brève histoire des loges militaires 1732-1845’, La châine d’union 2009/3, No. 49: 48-59, see 59 n.30

Details

One sheet, parchment, 50 cms. x 30 cms., printed with intaglio. Four lines title and nine lines further text below, spaces for filling out. Twelve manuscript signatures (also accompanied by intaglio text), stamp. Five slits, laced through with ribbon (see above). Light soiling.