CIRCA 1630

Details

A Fine And Rare 22-Bore French Oval-Bore Wheel-Lock Sporting Rifle
Circa 1630
With swamped octagonal sighted barrel, the breech, central section and muzzle chiselled with triangular panels of acanthus foliage in low relief, iron blade fore-sight and hooded iron back-sight, deeply engraved tang, flat bevelled lock of German construction engraved with foliage and with chiselled details including monster-head rear finial (pan-cover associated), the wheel with domed centre engraved with petals, fruitwood full stock carved with foliage in relief and on the butt with sphinxes, scrolls and mythical figures, all on a punched ground, carved patch-box cover, indented iron trigger-guard chiselled with foliage and a bird's head, brass butt-plate with iron button, brass fore-end cap and ramrod-pipes, and later brass-tipped ramrod (butt extended)
36¾in. (90.8cm.) barrel

Provenance

W.G. Renwick, Sotheby & Co., London, 23 July 1974, lot 64 (£4,000 to Jenkinson)

Special notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price plus buyer's premium.

Lot Essay

This is a rare example of a decorated early 17th century French wheel-lock. Its form is based on the third sheet of designs published in Paris in 1657 by François Marcou, Maistre Arquebuzier à Paris, and engraved by C. Jacquinet, who worked for many of the Parisian gunmakers. Surviving guns and rifles of this type are mostly from the Cabinet d'Armes of King Louis XIII, and are today almost all in public collections. It is the earliest recorded example of a rifle with a smooth oval bore

More from FINE ANTIQUE FIREARMS FROM THE W. KEITH NEAL COLLECTION

View All