Opening of Napoleon's Coffin, at the island of St Helena by Victor Adam 1840

[BONAPARTE, Napoleon] ADAM, Victor. Ouverture du Cercueil de Napoléon. À l’île Ste Hélène le 16 Octobre 1840. Paris, Lemercier, Benard et Cie, [1840].
 
Large folio lithograph, 510 × 360 mm. Blind-stamped. Dessiné d’après nature; lithographie par V. Adam. Light scattered foxing, chiefly marginal; some handling wear. About very good.
 
One of the principal plates from Adam’s celebrated suite documenting the exhumation, return, and state funeral of Napoleon in 1840. The scene depicts the official opening of the coffin on St Helena on 16 October 1840 prior to the removal of the remains to France. Napoleon lies in uniform within the opened coffin, surrounded by French officers and clergy; British guards are visible beyond the tent. The plate emphasises the reported preservation and recognisability of the body, a detail heavily publicised during the Retour des Cendres and central to its political symbolism under Louis-Philippe.
 
This plate is from the original first edition of the complete series of twenty large-format lithographs issued in Paris in 1840–41.