Le Revolution Dinner Napkin (set 50)

On the 12th of July, 1789, two days before the Bastille fell, Camille Desmoulins climbed onto a table at the Palais-Royal, plucked a leaf from a chestnut tree, and pinned it to his hat as a sign of solidarity. Within hours, the streets of Paris were full of people doing the same. Within days, the chestnut leaf had been replaced by a cockade of silk ribbon in the colors of the city, and the cockade had become the emblem of a movement.

This napkin places that emblem at its corner: a pleated tricolor cockade in red, white, and blue, enclosing a parchment-toned medallion bearing the twin inscriptions of the Republic — Liberté and Égalité — and at its center a key, the symbol of liberty seized and held. It is a small image and a precise one, drawn from the actual badges and devices circulated in Paris in the summer and autumn of 1789. The version depicted is the more elaborate cockade produced for civic and ceremonial use: a pleated outer ring in the tricolor sequence, enclosing a printed central disc in the manner of the enamel and paper badges issued to members of the newly formed National Guard.

Part of La Révolution. Soft three-ply tissue. Luncheon size: 6.5″ × 6.5″ (folded). Available in White or Ecru ground. Coined or standard edge, select at checkout. Sold in packs of 50. Adult use only.