358 | A distinguished French flintlock shotgun by Jean Baptiste Laroche, Arquebusier du Roi Louis XV, of Paris, circa 1750 Slender, slightly tapered barrel, the original bluing abraded in places. Octagonal and finely fluted at the breech, extending into round after a short decorative band with offset barrel rib. Smooth bore in 15.5 mm calibre. The muzzle with two decorative gold-inlaid bands, the rear sight surrounded by finely engraved decorative tendrils inlaid in gold. Gold-plated and engraved embellishment at the root of the barrel. The lock with delicately chased décor on a chiselled gold background. Depiction of the blacksmith Vulcan and a seated boy. The figure of a heron on the cock. Finely engraved signature “Laroche à Paris” behind the cock. The finely carved full stock in beautifully grained walnut, attached in old times at the first ramrod sleeve. The butt opulently decorated with silver wire inlays, a vacant iron thumb plate. Ostentatious iron furniture with three-dimensional, chiselled embellishment on a gold background. Finely fluted iron ramrod pipes on the underside, original wooden ramrod with iron tip and wad hook. Length 146.5 cm. Jean-Baptiste Laroche is documented as a gunsmith in Paris from 1740 to 1769 and Arquebusier du Roi. In 1743, he was granted the royal “Brevet du Logement” in the Louvre, where he lived until his death. A pair of flintlock pistols that he was commissioned to make for Louis XV forms part of the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London (Accession Number 2243&A-1855). Another pistol can be found in the Wallace Collection in London. A flintlock shotgun is in the holdings of the Gatchina arsenal in St. Petersburg, illustrated in: Gatchina Arsenal, One hundred items from the collection of the Russian Emperors, St. Petersburg, 2001, p. 95 ff. 341550 II € 18.000 1421
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