BY BOUTET, DIRECTEUR ARTISTE, MANUF.RE À VERSAILLES, NO. 15, PARIS SILVER MARKS FOR 1798-1809

Details

A FINE 22-BORE FRENCH SILVER-MOUNTED D.B. FLINTLOCK PRESENTATION GUN
By Boutet, Directeur Artiste, Manuf.re à Versailles, No. 15, Paris silver marks for 1798-1809
With signed serial numbered tapering barrels incised and gilt with Neo-classical ornament on the breeches, rib and muzzles, and around the silver fore-sight (some wear to the gilding), on the top of the rear of each breech the oval barrelsmith's mark of Jean LeClerc of Paris (Neue Støckel 179), platinum-lined touch-holes, finely engraved grooved tang, signed flat locks each with engraved cock, moulded border, roller, long steel-spring, and platinum-lined pan, the tails engraved respectively with a swan and a heron, each in a landscape, figured walnut half-stock carved in relief in the Neo-classical taste, raised cheek-piece, chequered grip and fore-end, the former carved in relief with a boar's head, full silver mounts cast and chased in relief with further Empire motifs involving wolf-heads, an owl-mask, griffins, and a winged devil, the rear ramrod-pipe with an eagle, the tang of the butt-plate with a twin-tailed devil, oval gold escutcheon engraved with an Imperial eagle clutching a thunderbolt above the letter 'N', repeated on the flat of the butt-plate and the tip of the bone ramrod, and fluted silver ramrod-pipes (tang of trigger-guard repaired and with later engraving), silver maker's mark JM
32in. (81.2cm) barrels

Provenance

Joe Kindig, Jr., York, Pa.
Dr. Runkle, Columbus, Ohio

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

The design of the mounts of the present gun is very close to that of the mounts of a similar Boutet gun sold in these Rooms, 14 December 1976, lot 6, and of another, sold at Christie's South Kensington, 9 December 1998, lot 150, and the butt-plate is repeated on other Boutet guns, including two in the Wallace Collection (inv. nos. A 1126-7) and a further two in the Hermitage Collection, St. Petersburg (see L. Tarassuk, Antique Firearms in the Hermitage Museum, nos. 450 and 461)

More from ANTIQUE ARMS AND ARMOUR INCL. W. KEITH NEAL COLLECTION

View All