We are in front of the jewel of the museum. These figures represent Napoleon’s grenadiers, soldiers specialized in handling and throwing hand grenades. They were so highly regarded that the emperor made them his own personal guard.
These pieces are important because of their age, manufacturer and origin. These are figures dating from the early nineteenth century and were made by a French manufacturer called Lucotte, the first manufacturer of three-dimensional tin soldiers. At the base of the figures, you can see the engraving of a “little bee”. Such detail indicates that these figures most likely belonged to the son of Napoleon, the future king of Rome, since the bee was chosen by Napoleon as his imperial emblem.