Lot n° 208
Estimation :
7000 - 10000
EUR
Result with fees
Result
: 14 168EUR
Necessary case containing a pair of percussion pistols, with - Lot 208
Necessary case containing a pair of percussion pistols, with two superimposed charges in the same barrel, executed by Lepage-Moutier, presented by General Yusuf to his friend Captain Gruard:
Strong octagonal barrels with forced bullets, in damask with greyed ribbon, engraved with foliage at the thunders and muzzles and on the upper sides which are signed: "Lepage Moutier à Paris", the lower sides marked: "Bis In
Idem", length 22.1 cm, caliber 17 mm with heavy rifling; breeches and tangs engraved in sequence and numbered: "1" for the first and "2" for the second. Two engraved rear locks and hammers, one signed: "Lepage Moutier", the other: "À Paris", numbered inside: "1183", single trigger shafts.
The round caps and bridges are engraved en suite, and swivel to reveal a compartment for fulminate capsules. Varnished veined walnut stocks. Total length 36 cm. Mahogany case dedicated on the lid, in an oval brass medallion: "Le général Yusuf à son ami le capitaine Gruard" (General Yusuf to his friend Captain Gruard); inside sheathed in purple velvet, complete with accessories including a strong key for dismantling the guns, only the fulminate capsule box is not the original one; 42 x 23.5 x 7.5 cm (the key to the case is missing).
Circa 1845/1850. Very good condition.
An identical pistol, with an attribution, passed through Maître OSENAT in Fontainebleau, part of the NOISIEZ collection.
NOISIEZ, on March 3, 2024, bearing no. 1401 and dated 1854.
LEPAGE MOUTIER, Louis Michel, harquebusier in Paris in 1842, he succeeded his father-in-law Henri LEPAGE; Paris exhibitions in 1844, 1849, 1855 (1st class medal), 1867 and London in 1851 (Prix medal) and 1862. In 1865, he went into partnership with Henri FAURÉ-LEPAGE; he died in 1868, practicing at 13, rue de Richelieu.
Joseph VANTINI dit "Yousouf" (or Yusuf), born around 1808 on the island of Elba, died in Cannes in 1866. His father was a Corsican grenadier who became a secretary in the service of Napoleon I, who had been granted sovereignty over Elba by the 1814 Treaty of Fontainebleau. Much has been written about his life, so I'll just quote a few extracts:
He was a simple mameluk slave of the bey of Tunis, when he entered the service of France in 1830, yet his qualities as a leader of men and his many feats of arms made him a French general in the Army of Africa. He is the only leader to have participated, from start to finish, in the conquest of Algeria, from the landing at Sidi Ferruch in June 1830 to the insurrection of 1864. He also took part in the Crimean War in 1854, at the head of his "Bachi-Bouzouks" regiments.
This paladin, whose life was said to be "poetry in action", remains one of the most original figures among the fighters of the July Monarchy and the Second Empire; many legends and mysteries surround his life and, above all, his youth. The only sources available sometimes boil down to what Yusuf himself has been willing to recount, and those who have written about him are often military historians or journalists of the time, who were full of praise. What is certain is that his life was worthy of a novel, as his friend Alexandre Dumas once said: "In him alone, it's the whole tale of the
A Thousand and One Nights" (reference Matthias MAUVAIS).
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