Cabaret set is a term used for eighteenth-century tea or coffee services, usually made of porcelain and including a teapot, coffeepot, sugar bowl, creamer, cup and saucer, and tray. A service for one person was called a solitaire, a tête-à-tête was used for two. Breakfast services were sometimes termed déjeuner. Some were in fitted cases, which were at times as elaborate and costly as the sets themselves.
The specific cabaret set Jeff Talbot is pursuing in this novel is a result of the author’s imagination. To her knowledge, no such set was commissioned by Napoleon. He did, however, commission many items from the Sevres Royal Porcelain Factory during his reign as French emperor, and at his hands a treasured set played an important role in history.
Following the victories of the Italian Campaign, while negotiating peace with envoys of Emperor Francis II of Austria, Napoleon flew into a rage and hurled a priceless cabaret set to the floor, shattering it. “This is what will happen to Austria!” he shouted. “Your empire is an old maidservant, accustomed to being raped by all and sundry.” The Austrian diplomats, alarmed by this act of casual destruction, quickly agreed to his terms and signed the Treaty of Campoformio.