A striking political textile produced after Napoleon’s catastrophic retreat from Moscow, mocking the French emperor and cataloging his misdeeds.Within little more than a year, the so-called “Sixth Coalition” had captured Paris and exiled Napoleon to Elba.

The central image is a stage on trestles-the “Stage of Europe”-whereon Napoleon is shown attacked from both sides by figures representing Sweden, Russia and Prussia. To the right Napoleon’s brother Jerome, crowned as King of Westphalia, kneels in prayer, while the figures of Austria and the Confederation of the Rhine look on ineffectually. Surrounding the stage are eight vignettes depicting instances of Napoleonic villainy, including among others “Bonaparte in Egypt professing himself a Mahometan, and trampling on the Bible;” “Bonaparte ordering his Soldiers to fire upon the Turkish prisoners at Jaffa;” “Bonaparte meanly betraying his officers and cowardly deserting his Troops in Egypt;” and “Bonaparte destroying the Patriotic but unfortunate Tousant L Overture.” At the corners are half-length portraits of four European “patriots” executed by order of Napoleon.

Each image is captioned in English with a German translation, suggesting the kerchief was produced in Great Britain but intended for both the domestic and German markets.

See also: https://www.zobodat.at/pdf/Rudolfinum_2008_0253-0268.pdf