A FINE FRENCH BRONZE MOUNTAIN HOWITZER," L'ACCUEIL", OBUSIER DE 12CM VALÉE, MODÈLE 1828, STRASBOURG, DATED 23 FEV. 1850, ON ITS ORIGINAL CARRIAGE with smooth-bore barrel cast with raised flat muzzle ring and base ring each grooved for sighting, cast with the individual name of the gun, "L'Accueil", on a stippled scroll towards the muzzle, with foundry mark between the trunnions, a cursive "C", the ends of the trunnions marked with the weight "101K" and "No.2" respectively, with the motto of the Second Republic, "Liberte Egalite Fraternite" surmounting the cipher of the Republic towards the base, recessed broad vent field, the base ring cast with a pair of stippled panels, one marked "Strasbourg" and other "23 Fev. 1850", with button cascable, and in fine condition throughout : on its original regulation grey-painted wooden carriage, "modèle de montagne", for pack transport, with two-piece trail bedded for a quoin only and with no provision for fitting a limber pintle, with lightly cambered iron-shod spoked wheels, together with its original elevating quoin and combined brush staff and ramrod stamped with the calibre designation "12" (two pins for a cap-square and other small carriage mounts missing) 95 cm; 37½ in barrel This gun was intended to fire a 4kg. explosive round. The Système Valée was developed by Sylvian-Charles, comte Valée, as an improvement on the Gribeauval ordnance system and was adopted in 1828. Further examples, each also individually named, are preserved in the Musée de l'Armée, Paris. Surviving carriages are understandably rare; this example, constructed for the Mountain Howitzer and distinct from a field carriage, is possibly now unique. Though then obsolete, the present gun and its carriage were almost certainly a trophy of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870.