I mean, people love silly and useless things, though, it’s not necessarily an insult so much as a demonstration of what immense wealth each party has to waste (one to give such a gift; the other to keep it).
… which might sound like an insult, but was complimentary at the time.
A lot was also coded into art, buildings, clothing etc. Historically most people were illiterate, so more communication happened through other media or ‘material culture’.
Something tells me the “code” is more like: Napoleon’s drinking with his officers, and he says: “imagine Wellington, Nelson, Alexander, and Talleyrand are together in a room with me and I only have THIS” (plunks that pistol down on the table) “Who should I shoot?”
I mean, people love silly and useless things, though, it’s not necessarily an insult so much as a demonstration of what immense wealth each party has to waste (one to give such a gift; the other to keep it).
… which might sound like an insult, but was complimentary at the time.
Look up things like flower codes and using fans to send messages.
These ‘gifts’ were like emojis are today; unless someone told you, you’d never know what a particular one was supposed to mean.
I was just looking and couldn’t find it yet, but I can imagine a world of subtle signals
A lot was also coded into art, buildings, clothing etc. Historically most people were illiterate, so more communication happened through other media or ‘material culture’.
Something tells me the “code” is more like: Napoleon’s drinking with his officers, and he says: “imagine Wellington, Nelson, Alexander, and Talleyrand are together in a room with me and I only have THIS” (plunks that pistol down on the table) “Who should I shoot?”
spoiler
the answer is: “Talleyrand, three times!”