Hi.
Epee a Ciselures means an Epee or smallsword with cut decorations and were a class of sword mainly made for Army and Navy Officers.
Chatellerault is the place were they were made. Janvier (January) is part of the date it was inspected, cleared and accepted for use.
The Chatellerault signature changes over time and so we have another way to determine the period.
The letters C and I(?) tell us who the Inspectors - Directors were and if we have a name this can also tell us about the period the blade was made.
Inspectors and Directors worked for shorter or longer periods at the forges.
So we have ,,Manufacture Nationale d'Armes de Chatellerault'' which tells us the blade was made after 1900.
Around that date the signature changed from ,,Manufacture d'Armes de Chatellerault'' to ,, Manufacture Nationale d'Armes de Chatellerault''.
Now we know where in the lists we have to look for the letters C and I(?) and important: the way these letters were done, for instance in a shield or a roundel etc. The shape of the letter surround and the letter itself are one and form the signature. This gives us the names of M. P. Chouard (1891 - 1900) or E. C. Clemenceau (1893 - 1911), both working from 1900 onwards. But the shape of the letter surround tells us it was E. C. Clemenceau. (C in roundel)
Chouard had a C under a small star in a losenge shaped mark.
There was another Clemenceau working at Chatellerault in that period: A.A. Clemenceau (1900 - 1909), but he had his C placed inside a square.
As I cannot read the other (I?) stamp I have no idea who this was. For now though we have enough to make a good determination, so this is not very important at this moment.
So now we know the blade was made and inspected in the period 1900 - 1911.
All the above you can find in l'Hoste: Les Armes Blanches.
Now for the sword itself. Though we have determined the period the blade was made, the hilt parts may come from a different time frame.
So we have to look at the way the hilt was constructed, how the pommel looks, how the guard plate is designed and what is on this plate, etc.
Here Monsieur l'Hoste again helps us out with his book: Les Epees. Here we find every type of small sword ever made in France.
First the pommel: A Melon - mellon shaped. A type fashionable during the Second Empire and the beginning of the Third Republic.
The design of the knuckle bow tells us, when we look at other examples of the period, that this is an Officers sword because of the way the bow is decorated. This is not an official or regulation design but made up by the Officer and/or the shop he ordered his sword from.
French Officers and Officers in general had the right to have some personal designs incorporated in their gear.
The guard itself is seated directly on the guard plate. This tells us it is a late model. The higher the guard is placed above the guard plate the earlier the model. Have a look at 17th and 18th C. small swords and see for yourself.
The guard plate tells us we have an Officer of the City of Paris sword here. Paris had the ship (of state) emblem. All NCO's and Officers of the Peace ( de Paix, Police at that time) had this emblem on the guard plate. NCO's had a quite austere hilt and higher Officers were allowed to have a more sumptious designed hilt.
So what we have here is a sword for an Officer of the Peace of the City of Paris with a hilt dated from the Second Empire to the beginning of the Third Republic and a blade dated from the same period but officially only made for the Army cum Navy.
So Chatellerault or the shop the officer ordered his sword from fitted this blade to a hilt of a different type of sword. It happened. After all this is France we're dealing with. Just their way of keeping us happy and on our toes.
This sword is a variant of a typical model made for the Paris Officers of the Peace. This branch was established in 1870 by the way.
If you do an image search for this sword type and the Epee a Ciselures you'll find more. For instance, this specific laurel leaf design (on the knucklebow here) is typical for the breed of Peace Officers sword.
Lower Officers had the laurel leaves only on the bronze grips with an undecorated squarish knucklebow. This squarish knucklebow type harkens back to the military (small)sword.
Your sword has a wood grip, probably covered with wire at one time, a further indication this sword once belonged to one of the higher ups.
If you find all this stuff interesting enough to continue collecting I would suggest you buy the above mentioned books by l'Hoste and another one titled ,, Les Sabres'' too. These three will cover most questions about French sabres, smallswords and the forges that made them. For the amount of invaluable information you will get these come very cheap indeed at about $45 per title.
Without them you are swimming at night, with your eyes closed, in a pool filled with sharks.
Hope this helps you out a bit.
Cheers.