Francois Pirmet was gunmaker to Girolamo Buonaparte (1784-1860), Napoleon's youngest brother, who was commonly known as Jerome-Napoleon Bonaparte and was King of Westphalia from 1807 to 1813, Prince of Montfort from 1813, the Marshall of France from 1850 on, and the President of the Senate in 1852. This 20 gauge shotgun has "Pirmet" gold inlaid on the left barrel and "A Paris" on the left barrel between floral devices. Each of the locks has "Pirmet/A paris" inlaid in gold. There are also gold inlaid bands at the muzzles, a spider web design around the blade front sight, and a script "G" on the trigger guard (possibly for Girolamo). The underside of the barrels and the front of the breech are marked "1809" and "236". The breech has a dished rear sight. There are engraved patterns on the ramrod entry pipe, locks, breech, trigger guard, and buttplate. The stock has checkering on the forend and wrist, light raised relief designs behind the shallow cheekpiece and the breech, and a carved dragon with two horns on the lower wrist. In George B. Stacy's The Dragon (1860), he wrote of Napoleon III (Girolamo's nephew), "The unclean spirits are the policies announced in the varied propositions that proceed from Napoleon-the Dragon, from the papal clergy-the two horned beast, and from the Pope-the false prophet. . .We have proven that Napoleon-the Dragon is 'that old serpent, the devil, and satin;'" Dragons were popular images in 19th century France and have been seen on many high end firearms produced by the nation's top gunmakers. A flintlock double barrel fowling piece by Pirmet in the Met collection has a similarly carved stock. It includes an ebonized ramrod with bone tip and iron worm.

Fine. Nearly all of the original gold inlay remains. The barrels have traces of the original blue finish and brown patina. The locks and remaining components have mostly muted case colors and gray patina. The wood is very good with distinct carving and checkering, several light scratches, and some small pressure marks. The locks function excellently. The markings and designs are crisp. This is a fine shotgun likely produced for a member of the powerful Napoleon Bonaparte family or a member of one of their courts.