Chasseur a Cheval of the
Imperial Guard

The horse chasseurs were Napoleon's most devoted personal security service used as escort, liaison, and physical shield. They were always the closest ring around him and he knew many personally from the old days of Italy and Egypt in the 1790's. When Napoleon became emperor in 1804, he renamed them chasseurs of the Imperial Guard.

The famous "Authentic Memoirs of Captain Parquin" published in 1893 tells of M. Denis-Charles Parquin's adventures in this regiment as well as earlier in the 20th chasseurs whose uniform is also depicted in this series.

Chasseurs were dressed in the classic hussar style including two waist length jackets, one trinmned with fur (the pelisse) and worn as a cold weather coat or slung cavalierly from their left shoulder.

This half size mannikin shows the pelisse of Captain Parquin in red doeskin wool and cream colored sheepskin. Eighteen rows of antique gold soutache and ninety-eight brass buttons have been sewn on by hand. His headdress, a colpak, is made here of black beaver for scale.