CAST AFTER CLAUDE MICHEL CALLED CLODION (FRENCH, 1738-1814), 19TH CENTURY

A very similar plaque, possibly cast in the same workshop, is in the Kunst-halle, Bremen. This is also inscribed A Monseigneur LE PRINCE de ROHAN HOMMAGE de L'AUTEUR M. C 1787.

1774 was a watershed in the career of the bishop and politician Louis-Reni-Edouard de Rohan (1734-1803). As French ambassador to Vienna he aroused the dislike of Empress Maria Theresa because of his excessive life style and he was forced to return to Paris. A cardinal from 1778, he succeeded in 1779 his uncle as archbishop of Strasbourg. He is famous for having been involved in the scandal known as the Affaire du Collier de la Reine when undertaking the purchase of a hugely expensive necklace for the Queen Marie-Antoinette, without her authority and without funds of his own.
Keen on philosophy, he was a friend of Buffon and d'Alembert and was a frequent visitor to the circle of Madame Geoffrin. As early as 1761, he became a member of the highly celebrated Académie Française.