Apart from a garniture which sold for USD 5,000,000 several years ago, this is the only known gold-mounted pocket pistol made by Nicholas-Nöel Boutet to be held in private hands. Extensive research and documentation published by public collections informs us that Boutet gold-mounts were all commission pieces.
There are a pair of pistols in the Royal Ontario Museum, sisters to this pistol, known to have been commissioned by Napoleon for his sister Elisa Bonaparte.
This pistol has been in several important collections in the USA and much has been written about it over the last few decades. Research published and re-published over the years relied on information passed down by collectors and curators, based primarily, on Boutet’s annuaire.
Whilst the annuaire provides some valuable information about the firearms and the recipients, it doesn’t tell us much about the decoration. Today’s search engines have allowed us to link together ostensibly unrelated information to form a near-certain conclusion regarding the decoration on presentation pistols made by Boutet & LePage and, perhaps, others.
Master Engraver and medalist Fleury Montagny (1760-1836) engraved presentation pistols for both Boutet & LePage. There are a pair of LePage pistols in the Metropolitan Museum of Art engraved by Montagny. There is also a pair of LePage pistols in this collection, also almost certainly to have been engraved by Montagny.
Montagny worked from the pattern book of Ignace Joseph Chevalier de Claussin (1766-1844), a French etcher and printmaker.
In turn, Claussin copied the works of Dutch Masters, Paulus Potter (1625-1654), Nicolaes Pieterszoon Berchem (1620-1683) and Marcus de Bey (1638-1688), Italian etcher Stefano Della Bella (1610-1654) and others.
The bull on one lock-face of this pistol is from an etching by Stefano Della Bella (1610-1666) an Italian print-maker and draughtsman.
The other lock-face engraving is drawn from “Neighing Horse”, a painting by Dutch Master Paulus Potter (1625-1654).
The artistic execution of the panels remained unequaled in the 19th century. The underside of the frame in minutely engraved with a cartouche containing a travelling vendor with his donkey, displaying his wares to farmer’s wife amid a setting of trees.
The turn-off barrel features an exquisitely rendered border engraving of leaves and foliage and a cartouche with the farmer’s wife carrying the basket seen in the cartouche on the underside of the frame.
The swan neck hammer is engraved with stars and the frizzen and top-jaw similarly profusely engraved.. The pan fence is engraved, as are all the screw heads. The frame is signed in full “BOUTET DIRECTEUR ARTISTE” and on the barrel “MANUFRE Á VERSAILLES”.
The push on button safety is also fully engraved.
The finely moulded ebony grip is elaborately inlaid with 24 carat gold throughout its surface, with winged dragons, a large gryphon, leaves, and scrolling foliage.
Every aspect of this lovely pistol is a tribute to both Nicholas Boutet as perhaps the greatest maker of high art arms of all time and Master Engraver Fleury Montagny.
We have not yet mentioned the folding trigger; the trigger was the catalyst which generated the very extensive research for this rare and valuable pistol, it can be found here.
