Ref.: ROME-75026
Line Infantry Grenadier, Landing Uniform - Egypt 1798 History: At midday on the first of July 1798 Napoleon Bonaparte ordered the French troops to start landing manoeuvres on the beach at Aboukir. This marked the beginning of the French venture in eastern lands. On boarding the ships that would take them to the Egyptian coast, the infantry divisions wore the 1798 regulation uniform, which soon turned out to be unsuitable for the Egyptian climate. Soon after landing, the troops began replacing parts of their uniform with civilian clothing procured locally. When the troops reached Cairo at the end of July, their uniforms were so worn and ragged that Bonaparte ordered that the uniforms be replaced with uniforms made of locally produced cotton. Our model depicts an infantry line grenadier in the period between landing and the replacement of regulation uniform with cotton uniform. Painting: Tailcoat: dark blue with white cuffs ornamented in red. Buttons: bronze. Epaulettes and fringe: red. Two-cornered hat in black velour with a blue, red and white (from the inside to the outside) cockade, and a white hook. Waistcoat is white, or blue and white stripes of civilian origin. White bandoleer. Backpack in cowhide with a whitish rolled coat. White straps with bronze buckles. Trousers: white, or red and white stripes. Shoes: black leather with bronze buckle. Ammunition box in black leather. Bayonet sheath/scabbard: black or dark brown. Sabre-briquet sheath: black leather with bronze. Sabre-briquet: bronze hilt red with sword-knot. Across-body haversack and strap in coarse canvas. Sun protection in coarse cloth with wooden supports. Water-bottle: a hollowed-out pumpkin. Rifle: butt in dark wood with metal trimming and mechanisms, such as the rifle-barrel. White strap with bronze buckle.