Napoleonic Sphinxes: A Magnificent Boutet Carved Pistol Set
Fancy & Presentation Guns
•
8m 34s
Nicolaus-Noël Boutet is one of the most significant gunsmith artists in the world. He was the “directeur-artiste” of the Manufacture d’Armes de Versailles, set up in 1792 and would remain in charge of the factory until it closed in 1818. Originally set up to make a variety of small arms, under Napoleon the factory produced exclusively embellished weapons. Napoleon like to use such things as awards to recognize acts of bravery in his army, and they were also used as presentation pieces for various diplomatic reasons as well as being made for commercial sale.
This particular pair of pocket pistols were made around 1803 as flintlocks, and converted to percussion at some later date (perhaps by Boutet, or perhaps not). They feature a selection of imagery form the classical world, in particular four large sphinxes. There was a major revival of interest in Egyptian classical history around this time, stemming from Napoleon’s campaign there in 1798. These classical motifs became a popular style during his years in power, as magnificently illustrated on these two pistols. Both the woodwork and the metal engraving are exquisitely high quality.
Up Next in Fancy & Presentation Guns
-
Personalized 1911s from the WW1 Ameri...
At the end of the Great War, the United States sent several thousand soldiers to eastern Siberia, to protect war supplies from the Red Russian forces and to help rescue the Czechoslovak Legion. Also known as the Polar Bear Expedition, this force spent 1919 around Arkhangelsk and Vladivostok. They...
-
FN's Millionth Pistol: Presented to J...
Fabrique Nationale was formed as a consortium of small gunmakers to produce Mauser rifles for the Belgian Army, and when that work was complete the company basically had nothing else to do...until they met John Browning. Browning had a new pistols design and needed a manufacturer - and FN happene...
-
Special Presentation: What is Gold Da...
Today were are going to do something a bit different than normal, and take a detailed look at an intersection of arms and art: gold damascene. This is a type of art used to embellish a wide variety of objects, including firearms.
Gold damascene enjoyed a renaissance in Spain in the mid 1850s t...
