Note: Items that appear as RED LINKS are topic pages that have yet to be created
Has this question been asked before?
Discussion by the FirstEmpire folks, et al, over at Historie Vivante touched on this very topic this January (2017) and revealed that even they have had difficulties pinning down the exact dimensions of the gamelle. Resassuring to know we aren’t the only ones, but frustrating all the same!
There are however some good resources referenced worth noting here, some that can serve as jumping off points, and others that help to define the ‘future’ of the gamelle, ie. what is NOT the answer we are looking for!
Original thread, en francais: http://histoirevivante.forumculture.net/t1274-de-la-gamelle-d-escouade
Well, that’s certainly not it…
Clothing regs of 1812 and an officer’s memoir (asssumingly from the same period) were reported to be of no help.
1873 sketch, source unknown. Top, “marmite” or pot – quite convenient for carrying water! And apparently curved to be more ergonomic to carry, according to Kori. Saw many in use at the small encampment we visited in Belgium.
Bottom, the elusive gamelle, grande
-First World War version (looks a lot like the 1873…) on a no-longer fluffy pack in the collections of the Musee d’Infanterie. Dimensions of this models supposedly D=30cm H= 11 cm
(http://www.musee-infanterie.com/objet/84-gamelle-collective-de-campement)
Bertrand also has a listing for a WWI era gamelle… see that posting here http://www.bertrand-malvaux.fr/fr/p/20418/gamelle-de-campement.html
Hmm, this could lead somewhere…
Most promising: The author of the demi-brigade webpages linked to his findings, which reference a 1792 regulation! http://demi-brigade.org/gamellfr.htm
“Beyer” and “Sauerweid” engravings
A poster gave this collage of image clips, supposedly from Bayer’s engravings and a painting of a campaign hospital. Finding the full images and details may prove helpful?
Further responses contend the item in the left image is instead a pewter plate. Which, favorite comment of the evening, reaffirming a lesson well learnt to me by an Englishman in the floppy fuzzy fluffy campaign, that artists live in a vacuum without gravity! ” qui tient un peu par miracle sur le sac. ” essentially “its barely holding on to that pack by a miracle!”
Another poster suggested checking Bardin's dictionary(duh!) but another stated it was not covered. Hard to believe a book with 14 pages on “tents” doesn’t talk about bowls!
A 1996 thesis article referenced on persee.fr discusses the equipment after the “reorganization on January 12, 1810: companies will have to be equipped with eight pots, eight big cans and sixteen bowls.” (translated from French) I did not easily notice what the title of the document that decreed such was, but further analysis of the article and investigation into the author, A. Pigeard, may provide a starting point to work back from. (http://www.persee.fr/doc/ahrf_0003-4436_1996_num_303_1_3426)
Speculatiions of dimensions based on relative size when depicted against a pack estimated ~30cm diameter and from 6-11cm deep.
Thoughts for another day:
– Mentions of ‘Beyer’ artwork, any additional relevant items?
-Website persee.fr could reveal a plethora of resources, appears to be a consortium of dozens of universities, societies, publishers, etc for scientific and social science publications.
-Sale sites such as https://www.delcampe.net/fr/collections/item/225072665.html can be helpful for items we are familiar with
-Contacting someone like Bertrand who is obviously a knowledgeable purveyor of such items.
Learned: “une assiette d’étain” = a pewter plate
https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_JlqSqTcrNosC 1792
http://www.bertrand-malvaux.com/fr/p/7436/reglement-provisoire-sur-le-service-de-l-infanterie-en-campagne.html 1778 Bertrand 70 euro OMG OMG
Dictionnaire militaire ou recueil alphabétique de tous les termes propres à l’Art de la guerre, sur ce qui regarde la tactique, le génie, l’Artillerie, la subsistance des troupes, et la marine 1745
On y a joint l’explication des travaux, qui servent à la construction, à l’attaque et à la défense des places; & des détails historiques sur l’origine & la nature des différentes espèces, tant d’officies militaires anciens & modernes, que des armes qui ont été en usage dans les différents temps de la monarchie. Deux volumes