MAGNIFICENT FLINTLOCK HUNTING RIFLE BY BOUTET IN VERSAILLES having belonged to Count Frochot, first prefect of the Seine. Strong barrel with sides, rifled, damascus, slightly blundered at the mouth, with blued rear sight in the first third, then with upper sides hollowed out in the last third of the length of the barrel, amati, with gilded rear sight. Damascus-style, gray case-hardened barrel, ribbon, richly embellished with gold fillet at the muzzle, an arrow numbered "164", the signature "Boutet" "à Versailles" between foliage patterns, as well as stylized patterns on each side. Blued thunderbolt, bordered with gold nets, struck with a golden bar " BOUTET " on each side. Light heightened of gold. Steel breech tail engraved with a satyr embracing a young woman. Flat-bodied lock signed "Boutet à Versailles", finely engraved with a woman in a long dress, foliage and pearls, as well as a medallion of a defecating dog. Safety button on the tail of platinum. Swan neck dog decorated with a head of satyr and foliage. Cover basin with median edge engraved of two swans drinking in a shell, round basin composed of two volutes pares sparks. Spring cut out of foliage, with roller. Steel trimmings chased, cut and finely engraved. Front of trigger guard in foliage and gadrooned urn, carrying a basket of flowers and fruits. Finger rest engraved with a dragon and flowers, chased with a palmette in high relief. Tail of trigger guilloche. Tail of trigger guard decorated with a medallion representing Athena. Counter plate with finely engraved decoration of elephant, horns of plenty, flowers, fruits, shells and chased palmettes. Bedplate entirely guilloche, with return to decorate foliage, friezes of medallions, urn containing a basket of flowers, enriched with garlands of leaves and friezes of interlacing. All screws ornamented. Mounting, shaft and half pistol grip with cheek in selected walnut, partly finely squared and carved, ending in the front scroll, inlaid with a gold plate of virgin attribution bordered by an engraving of friezes of pearls. Entrance of key in gold decorated in suite. Good condition. Consulate - Empire period. Provenance : Nicolas Comte Frochot, then descent. Related works : Several luxury rifles with a similar aesthetic: - Superb flintlock rifle from "Boutet & Fils à Versailles", attributed to Joseph Count Palatine of Hungary, uncle of Empress Marie-Louise. Osenat - Binoche & Giquello sale of the collections of the Princely Palace of Monaco, lot 136, 16 December 2014. - Present rifle to Prince Charles of Bavaria, Binoche & Giquello, June 15, 2009. Biography: Nicolas Thérèse FROCHOT (1761-1828) Son of a lawyer at the Parliament of Burgundy, he acquires by marriage a notary office. He was elected deputy of the Third State to the States General in 1789. He was a member of the Constituent Assembly, then of the Convention. Close to Mirabeau, in whom he will be the executor of his will, he became a specialist of constitutional law. He wrote a title in the 1791 constitution. Questioned during the terror, he became in 1799, deputy of the Cote d'Or. On March 22, 1800, he became the first Prefect of the Seine. He developed hospitals, the Mont de Piété, roads, hygiene, and inaugurated the four large cemeteries, which were then outside the limits of Paris. So much useful work, skilfully and wisely conceived and executed, deserved to be rewarded; Napoleon successively appointed Frochot, State Councillor, Knight of the Iron Crown, Commander, then Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor and Count of the Empire. Count Frochot, filled with justly deserved honors, invested with the confidence and respect of his constituents, had preserved the simplicity of manners, the frankness and the dignity of character. He worked fourteen hours a day; all the correspondence passed to him under the games; he made a part of it himself; he went little in the world and occupied himself only with his administration. The conspiracy of Malet will entail the disgrace of Frochot. The latter, warned of the death of the Emperor by one of the conspirators, will open a room of the City hall for the meeting of the future provisional government. Once the plot was discovered, the Prefect of the Seine was disgraced. He is said to have said the following, which sums up the Malet affair: "That devil of a king of Rome: you never think about it". Before becoming