1 / 19
Featured lot selected by the auctions House.
JEZEQUEL - RENNES ENCHERES BRETAGNE
101
-
From the descendants of Marshal de BOURMONT.
See original version (French)
101
-
From the descendants of Marshal de BOURMONT.
See original version (French)
Estimate €6,000 - €10,000
Voluntary lot
Description
From the descendants of Marshal de BOURMONT.
A fine Algerian gift rifle, flint-lock, with a miquelet lock.
The barrel is slightly flared at the muzzle, surmounted by a silver front sight, with a rear sight on a grooved ring, held in place by three large openwork silver rings, embossed with scrollwork and floral motifs.
The breech block is engraved with ‘Muhammad Mustafa’ (the name of the Prophet Muhammad), embellished with a flower and foliage.
A fine muzzle-loader lock, typical of this model, in which all components – the ‘butterfly’ hammer screw, hammer, firing mechanism, spring, safety catch and pan – are chiselled with a continuous silver-plated decoration.
The wooden frame, stock, stock back and long barrel are beautifully, delicately and entirely decorated with a silver lattice motif, engraved and chiselled, framing inlaid pieces of coral cut in an ‘almond’ shape.
The butt plate is protected by a brass plate engraved and chiselled with flowers, scrolls and foliage, encircled by a series of coral pieces also cut in an ‘almond’ shape, inlaid as a matching set.
The butt plate is secured by two round-headed screws.
‘Button’ trigger.
Wooden stock with a long butt end fitted with silver, featuring repoussé decoration (damaged, partially missing).
Length: 153 cm.
Circa 1770/1780.
Provenance:
Family heirloom.
According to family tradition, this rifle was brought back from Algeria by Marshal de Bourmont, the great-great-grandfather of the current owner.
Ex
History:
Louis Auguste de Bourmont.
Louis de Ghaisnes (Château de Bourmont, Anjou, 1773–1846).
Officer in the French Guards in 1789. Served in 1792 and 1793 in the Army of the Princes and the army of Louis V Joseph de Bourbon-Condé, known as the Army of Condé. He took part in the 1792 campaign under Charles-Guillaume-Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick, fought on the Rhine in 1793 and went to the Vendée in February 1795.
In 1799, Bourmont was one of the leaders of the new Vendée uprising. He captured Le Mans, signed a peace treaty with the First Consul in 1800 and continued to take part in royalist plots during the Consulate.
Arrested following the affair surrounding the abduction of Senator Dominique Clément de Ris, he was imprisoned at the Temple and then in Besançon, from where he escaped in 1804.
Having taken refuge in Portugal, he witnessed the arrival of the French armies there in 1807 and subsequently offered his services to Jean-Andoche Junot, who appointed him his aide-de-camp.
After the surrender of Cintra (1808), he returned to France, where he was immediately arrested. Imprisoned, he was released thanks to Junot’s intervention but placed under house arrest until 1810.
The Emperor sent him to Italy (1810) in order to remove a man in whom he had no confidence. ‘What do you expect our troops to think of being commanded by such a leader?’ wrote Napoleon in 1812 to General Clarke, the Minister of War.
Circumstances, however, necessitated his deployment in 1812 and 1813 during the campaigns in Russia and then Germany. There he was awarded the Legion of Honour and the rank of brigadier-general; Napoleon I may have been seeking to win over the former Chouan through these favours, before deploying him to the West, where tensions were flaring up again.
In February 1814, he was entrusted with the defence of Nogent. Napoleon appointed him a major-general. But two months later, Bourmont defected to the Bourbons.
At the start of the Hundred Days, he presented himself to the new Minister of War, Louis-Nicolas Davout, to place himself at the Emperor’s disposal. Davout showed him the door. Bourmont nevertheless achieved his aim and secured command of a division, whose general staff he filled with royalist officers in preparation for a mass desertion that took place on 15 June 1815, three days before Waterloo.
Having returned to France with Louis XVIII, Bourmont was given command of a division of the Royal Guard. Shortly afterwards, his incriminating testimony contributed to the death sentence handed down to Marshal Ney.
Made a Peer of France in 1823, he was approached to take up the post of Minister of War in 1829, which sparked a wave of protests and resignations within the army.
In 1830, he was given command of the Algerian expedition.
At the head of an army comprising 37,600 men (including five future marshals such as Mac-Mahon and future generals such as Lamoricière) and more than 600 vessels, Bourmont landed at Sidi Ferruch on 13 June 1830. On 24 June, the offensive on Sidi-Khalef took place. Amédée de Bourmont, the general’s second son, was mortally wounded at the Battle of Sidi-Ibrahim. On 29 June, the attack on the Emperor’s Fort began; it fell on 4 July. The following day, the city surrendered. Bourmont was awarded his marshal’s baton on 24 July and continued the occupation of Mers-el-Kébir, capturing Oran and Bône and securing the Ottomans’ withdrawal.
Following the July Revolution of 1830, which led to the abdication of Charles X and the accession of his cousin, Louis-Philippe d’Orléans, Bourmont, loyal to the Bourbons – that is to say, to the young Duke of Bordeaux (Count of Chambord), the legitimate pretender to the French throne – refused to swear allegiance to the new king
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
Pictures modified on 06/19/2026 at 3:56 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
You may also like