.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
According to the late owner (loc. cit., p. 120), this pistol was probably designed as a prototype made either to the order of King Louis XIII, or for presentation to him, by an enterprising gunsmith, and is likely to be the world's 'oldest surviving true flintlock pistol'
The form of the pistol closely follows that of a number of plain early wheel-lock pistols from King Louis XIII's Cabinet d'Armes, for example Inventaire no. 210 (Neal, loc. cit., fig. 2), and the lock mechanism is similar to, but arguably earlier in date than those of two of Louis XIII's flintlock guns, respectively by Marin le Bourgeois and his brother Pierre (Inventaire nos. 152 and 134) of circa 1610-20, in the Hermitage, St. Petersburg (inv. no. F 281), and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (inv. no. 1972.223)
The form of the pistol closely follows that of a number of plain early wheel-lock pistols from King Louis XIII's Cabinet d'Armes, for example Inventaire no. 210 (Neal, loc. cit., fig. 2), and the lock mechanism is similar to, but arguably earlier in date than those of two of Louis XIII's flintlock guns, respectively by Marin le Bourgeois and his brother Pierre (Inventaire nos. 152 and 134) of circa 1610-20, in the Hermitage, St. Petersburg (inv. no. F 281), and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (inv. no. 1972.223)