MADAM – I write in response to the letter by Simon Butt (ATG No 2386) titled Mystery Napoleon link and requesting information on a soft paste pot pourri depicting Longwood House.
First, forget the date 1817. That may have been the date of the somewhat inaccurate picture of Longwood used on the vessel but not the vessel itself.
The writing on the bottom of the piece is much more interesting, in referring to the illustration as the Residence of Napoleon Bonaparte and not Napoleon Buonaparte – the original spelling of his name used by the English to belittle the emperor and remind him and the world of his Italian roots tends to date this pot somewhat later than 1821.