Nicholas-Nöel Boutet is perhaps better known for his presentation firearms than his contemporaries, but that is not to say that the works of François Pirmet, Louis-Marin Gosset, Jean LePage, et al were in any way inferior.

Jean LePage made some spectacular presentation pistols and long-arms, but his presentation de-luxe grade pocket pistols are exceptionally rare. There is a magnificent Montagny engraved pair of double-barrel pocket pistols by LePage in the Metropolitan Museum of Art but, other than the pair shown here, we are not aware of any others, search engines also only come up with the Met pair and the pair you see here.

To say that these pocket pistols are the equal of anything from the Versailles Manufactory is an understatement, these pistols are stunningly beautiful.

As is usual for presentation pocket pistols, each lock-face carries a different engraving. Like the Met pistols, the lock-face engravings are likely the work of Fleury Montagny; they are certainly from the pattern book of Ignace Joseph Chevalier de Claussin (1766-1844), as are many of the presentation pistols by both Boutet and LePage.

The four lock-face engravings are: –

“Neighing Horse” from an etching by Paulus Potter (1625-1654) (This exact engraving is also on one of the Met pistols.)

An untitled etching of a ram by Paulus Potter.

An untitled etching of a ram by Nicolaes Berchem (1620-1683)

“Pissing Sheep” by Marcus de Bay (1639-1844).

The engraving of the screw heads, breach, top strap, top jaw, pan fence and the barrels is highly detailed and almost unequalled in the degree of coverage.

The frizzens deserve a special mention, sunburst, stars, and foliage are accompanied by two dragonflies on each frizzen.

The undersides almost defy description with a mythical bird with a man’s head, sitting on a perch, above a an intricately carved cartouche (one pistol has a male farm-worker and the other a female farm-worker in the centre of the cartouche). Each tang has two three-tailed angry serpents.

There are four bands of highly-detailed stars, foliage, and geometric patterns from the muzzle to the breach on each pistol.

The barrel lug has not escaped the engravers passion, it has the pistol number (1&2) in a clear cartouche surrounded by engraving that needs a magnifying glass to appreciate.

The pans are lined with 24 carat gold.

Both pistols are fully signed  “LePage A Paris”, the “L” adorned with intricate flowers.

The ebony stocks are masterfully carved in a finely detailed fish-scale pattern with a double row chevron along the spine.

We have never seen pocket pistols with this degree of detail, they are almost certainly commission pieces.