RARE DOUBLE HUNTING RIFLE OF EMPEROR NAPOLEON I AND OF THE IMPERIAL HUNTS Exhibited at the 1900 Universal Exhibition, from the Bro de Comères collection and the Napoleonic collections of the Prince's Palace of Monaco. Flintlock double shotgun with revolving barrels, by La Page, with one hammer and two batteries. Round barrels with patinated blue, superimposed, with upper flats and thunderbolts, richly engraved with garlands of flowers and exploding bombs on a gold background. Silver sights decorated with gold at their bases. One barrel marked in gold "LE PAGE A PARIS" and the other "ARQr DU ROI". Flat-bodied lock decorated in gold and engraved with a dog's head in a hunting horn, an eagle watching on a tree branch. Swan-necked dog with flat-bodied security, engraved with a fantastic animal, game and floral friezes. Battery plates signed "LE PAGE" in gold, with double scroll bassinet trimmed in silver. Silver trigger guard chased with a lion's head, blued, decorated with gold with an eagle holding a hare in its claws, releasing the rotation of the barrels by pressure. Embossed and chased silver lock plate decorated with a horse chasing a lioness. Guilloche screws. Silver bedplate, with high relief chased return of a hunting trophy, boar's head, horn, dagger, holster, oak leaves. Veined walnut stock adorned with a gold thumb piece and commemoratively embellished on the right side in gold inlay with the numeral "N" under an imperial crown (small cut, cross missing). Stick with horn tip. The entrance to the baton features a hare, and the baton loops are beaded in silver. Length: 124 cm - Calibre: 16 mm approx. Hallmark of title and small guarantee Paris (1809-1819) The barrel marking "ARQr du ROI" was changed during a visit to Lepage's workshops during the Restoration, probably to modify the stock (in particular by adding a grid). Good condition. First Empire period, the locks dated 1812. Provenance : - Collection Bro de Comères ; - Sale 5 July 1929, Drouot (Me Lair-Dubreuil, expert Pierre Foury), "Fusil de chasse ayant appartenu à l'empereur Napoléon Ier". Sold for 46,700 francs; - Then collection of Prince Louis II of Monaco; - Sale 16 November 2014 (Binoche-Giquello & Osenat), lot 134 (Expert Jean-Claude Dey). A double hunting rifle from the Emperor Napoleon I Exhibitions : -Universal Exhibition of 1900 in Paris, "Retrospective Museum of Class 51". Plate VI, no. 3: "Napoleon I hunting rifle with revolving barrels, made by Le Page, belonging to Baron Bro de Comères". -Napoleonic Museum at the Princely Palace in Monaco. Related works : A few known rare rifles and carbines of this model from the Emperor Napoleon I, with some variations in decoration, particularly in the engravings on the lock : - A carbine model similar to ours made by Lepage for the Emperor in the collections of the Musée de l'Armée (n°1002 I). It also comes from the Bro de Comères collection (1872) and also bears the same "N" under the crown. - A similar one, in the collection of the Fondation Napoléon (Inv 1111), the stock with the cheekpiece covered in morocco, given by the Emperor to Lieutenant Jean Victor Besson. - Another close example is in the collections of the Musée cantonal d'archéologie et d'histoire de Lausanne, given by Emperor Napoleon I to Abraham Noverraz on St Helena. Comments : Imperial hunting "Hunting is very learned... almost as learned as war" - Napoleon in 1807 to Marshal Berthier, grand veneur of the imperial hunts. With the upheavals of the Revolution and the dispersal of hunting crews, French hunting practices became somewhat erratic. The members of the Directoire and Consulate quickly returned to the Bourbon habits of the Ancien Régime, although they had lost some of their skills. In 1802, when the King of Etruria was in Paris, the lack of crew became a real diplomatic issue. Bonaparte, the First Consul, quickly remedied the situation by acquiring pavilions and hunting parks near Malmaison and Saint-Cloud. In 1804, Napoleon the Emperor wished to continue the age-old practice of French sovereigns. He paid close attention to the organisation of imperial hunting and appointed Marshal Berthier as Grand Veneur. Hunting thus became a key instrument in his demonstration of political power, as shown by the meeting staged by the emperor with Pope Pius VII in the forest of Fontainebleau. From 1809, after his divorce from Josephine, imperial hunting intensified: Napoleon took a real pleasure in the exercise, which he shared with his new wife Marie-Louise. This activity became an essential diplomatic tool that enabled him to unite his alliances, particularly with the kings of Saxony and Württemberg, or to thank his entourage and his marshals. In 1812, after the Russian campaign, the organisation of the hunts gave him a reassuring sense of normality in the eyes of the French. In all, Napoleon took part in more than 350 hunts during his reign. He paid great attention to commissioning luxury hunting objects, of which firearms are the most precious symbol. Despite the persistent legend of an emperor who was a poor marksman, for which the loss of Marshal Massena's eye seems to prove him right, his taste for military tactics applied to tracking game and his endurance as a horseman confirmed the idea of an emperor who was a grand master of the billebaude. Bibliography: VIAL Charles-Eloi, Les chasses impériales de Napoléon Ier, Thesis, 2011. REVERSEAU Jean-Pierre, Le Cabinet d'armes du Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature, De la mèche au silex, éditions de l'Esplanade, 2019