A RARE 60-BORE GERMAN WHEEL-LOCK HOLSTER PISTOL STOCKED BY THE SO-CALLED 'MASTER OF THE CASTLES'

CIRCA 1600, PROBABLY NUREMBERG

Details

A RARE 60-BORE GERMAN WHEEL-LOCK HOLSTER PISTOL STOCKED BY THE SO-CALLED 'MASTER OF THE CASTLES'
Circa 1600, probably Nuremberg
With shortened two-stage barrel engraved with panels of symmetrical foliated scrollwork and with raised moulding at the rear of the breech, shaped flat lock with external wheel retained by a small brass bracket with scallop-shell finial, pan-cover release-button in the form of a quatrefoil, and chiselled details on the cock and cock-spring, the tail of the lock-plate struck with a mark and engraved with foliated scrollwork retaining very faint traces of gilding, full stock veneered in ebony incised with scrolls within staghorn lines engraved with cabling, acanthus foliage, and fine running arabesque scrollwork, and inlaid over its entire length with finely pierced and engraved mother-of-pearl plaques decorated with animals, birds, monster-heads, masks, flower-heads, and scrolls, opposite the lock a putto aiming a gun, and a swivelling safety-catch set within finely engraved staghorn panels, oval pommel inset at its rear with a small chased rectangular gilt-copper plaque, iron trigger-guard, engraved staghorn fore-end tip, and later ramrod
24½in. (62.2cm.)

Lot Essay

Other firearms with stocks attributed to the unidentified 'Master of the Castles' are to be found in major collections including the Bargello, Florence (inv. nos. R/64 and M. 235); the Odescalchi Collection, Rome (inv. nos. 11 and 12); The Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor (cat. nos. 104 and 130-132); the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (inv. no. M 1082-1910); the Hermitage, St. Peterburg (inv. nos. 6611, 6613); and the Collection of the Princes of Liechtenstein, Schloß Vaduz (inv. no. 3822) See Claude Blair, The James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor, Arms, Armour and Base-Metalwork, pp. 319-322

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