Probably unique, the 6ft 4in (1.94m) long overall, highly elaborate gold-mounted firearm by Nicholas Boutet in Versailles was marked for maker Jean Masson, c.1805-09, and included Ottoman motifs among the extensive decoration.
It sold in the room after a lengthy competition against an online bidder.
Olympia says a gun “of this quality, with its specific iconography, was almost certainly intended for presentation to the Algerian Dey”.
French-Algerian relations were highly charged during this period, originating in part from the French failure to pay their agents in Algeria for wheat. The tensions came to a head in c.1827 when the French Consul reportedly insulted Hussain Dey who in turn struck him with a fly whisk.
This was used by the French as grounds for their military assault, not least as they were concerned that the English were prepared to seize Algiers. French rule of Algeria followed in 1830.
Nicholas Noël Boutet (1761-1833) is credited with being the principal innovator of the dramatic change in the design and decoration of French firearms that took place from the Revolution of 1789 through to Napoleon’s reign as emperor (1804-14).
Boutet was named directeur-artiste of the newly formed Versailles Arms Manufactory in 1792.
The Versailles factory was the principal producer of regulation weapons for the French armies. Boutet was also charged with creating richly decorated arms for presentation to military heroes and foreign heads of state.
The entry of Boutet’s Annuaire for the period of AN XII (September 24, 1803 to September 22, 1804) includes the following entry: ‘Ministre du Relations Extérieur Fusil simple or, algérien, damasquiné au mat, or incruste, placage or filigrammes or, fr. 9.000’.
The silver marks include the excise mark (poinçon de garantie) used in the Seine-Inférieure and the maker’s mark for Jean Masson, JM. The excise mark suggests that there was a workshop in or near Rouen, the centre of the department, which was a centre of export arms prior to the Revolution. The same series of marks occur on a number of elaborate garnitures by Boutet, including the celebrated garniture preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and another sold by Olympia in December 2021.
This gun’s long provenance goes back to The Royal House of Orléans; then the Duchesse de Guise (probably Princess Isabelle of Orléans, Duchesse de Guise, 1878-1961), Larache, Morocco; Raphel Manchon (1886-1975), c.1923-24, then Daniel Manchon, c.1975-85; and an ‘important private collection’ since 1985.
Raphael Manchon studied at the Ecole des Beaux Arts, Caen, and later with G Ferrer in Paris. He exhibited at the salon of 1911, won the Prix Grand Prix de Rome in 1914 for engraving and a silver medal in 1924. This gun was offered at Olympia with a copy of a statement from Daniel Manchon recording the presentation of this gun to his father who had painted a series of portraits for the Orléans family at their villa in Larache.
After the sale, auctioneer Thomas Del Mar said: “The gun was of exceptional quality and remained in excellent condition. A clear chain of provenance to the Royal House of Orléans added further to its appeal. Along with a number of other distinguished pieces it attracted considerable interest from our long-standing international buyers and we were delighted with this outstanding result that was the culmination of an intense bidding war.”
